VENTY-FIFTH  ANNIVERSARY 


CON!)  UNIVERSALIS!  CHURCH 


Boston 


17-1892 


FIRST  UNIVERSALIS! 

SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

LOWELL,  MASS., 

LIBRARY  REGULATIONS. 
No 


Section  1.    All  books  shall  be  kept  in 
good  repair. 

Sec.  2.     All  books  shall  be  charged 


JfQ-  COLLEGIUM 
BOSTON1ENSE 


E.J.     BREHAUT 


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8n  Account  of  tlje  Celebration 


SEVENTY-FIFTH   ANNIVERSARY 


Second  Society  of  universalists,  Boston. 


V/. ■  I  /'/>    ^5  /^- 


CHAS.  C.  SWAN 

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$n  Account  of  t^e  Celebration 


OF   THE 


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OF   THE 


Second  Society  of  uxiyersalists,  Boston, 


December  18,  1892. 


The  Proceedings  of  the  Social  Parish  Banquet, 
January  26,  1893. 


"    \ 
eEttfj  Illustrations. 


BOSTON: 

UNIVERSALIST   PUBLISHING    HOUSE. 

1893. 


CBA&  C.  9WA* 


mnitersttg  Press : 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


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*5 


PRE  FACE, 


\  T  a  meeting  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
^"^  Second  Universalist  Society,  holden  April, 
1892,  Rev.  S.  H.  Roblin,  the  pastor,  announced  that 
seventy-five  years  had  nearly  passed  since  the  church 
was  organized,  and  that  he  found  in  looking  over  the 
old  records  of  the  church  that  the  anniversary  would 
occur  in  December. 

After  deliberate  consideration  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee decided  it  would  be  well  to  recognize  the 
occasion  in  a  public  way,  and  voted  to  appoint  a 
special  committee  to  consider  the  matter  and  arrange 
for  a  proper  celebration. 

Messrs.  Alden  Viles  and  B.  B.  Whittemore  were 
appointed  a  committee,  with  the  pastor,  to  perfect  all 
necessary  arrangements.  The  plan  adopted  was  as 
follows  :  — 

First :  An  Historical  Discourse  by  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner, 
D.  D.,  LL.D.,  to  be  given  in  the  Church  Sunday  morning, 
Dec.  18,  1892. 

Second:  A  Public  Mass  Meeting  in  the  Church  on  Sunday 
evening,  December  18,  with  the  following  speakers:  — 

Introductory  address  by  Rev.  S.  H.  ROBLIN. 

Hosea  Ballou  :   Rev.  O.  CONE,  D.  D. 

Seventy-five  Years  of  Work :   Rev.  I.  M.  Atwood,  D.  D. 

Present  Opportunity:  Rev.  Charles  H.  Leonard. 

Third:  A  Social  Parish  Gathering,  to  which  all  present 
and  past  members  of  the  Society  should  be  invited. 


vi  PREFACE. 

On  account  of  the  Christmas  season  and  the  many 
engagements  connected  therewith,  it  was  decided  to 
postpone  the  third  part  of  the  celebration  to  Jan- 
uary 26. 

The  programme  thus  outlined  was  successfully  car- 
ried out,  and  the  occasions  were  so  interesting  and 
hold  such  important  bearing  on  our  church  history 
and  church  life  that  it  has  seemed  best  to  put  them 
upon  record  in  permanent  form  and  to  publish  this 
book  for  the  use  of  the  church.  The  sermon  of 
Dr.  Miner,  careful  in  its  historic  research,  rich  in  per- 
sonal reminiscence,  sparkling  everywhere  with  a  spirit 
of  devotion  to  the  church  and  its  faith,  will  be  gladly 
welcomed.  The  scholarly  and  critical  biographical 
study  of  Dr.  Cone  is  a  rich  and  valuable  addition 
to  our  literature ;  the  thoughtful  study  of  the  Church 
period  by  Dr.  Atwood,  so  enjoyed  in  its  delivery, 
will  be  read  anew  with  pleasure  and  profit ;  and  the 
Christian  and  apostolic  counsel  of  Dr.  Leonard  may 
be  read  and  studied  over  and  over  again  with  profit 
by  every  member  of  the  society. 

It  seems  fitting  also  that  there  should  be  appended 
a  full  report  of  the  brilliant  and  successful  social 
occasion  which  followed  in  January. 

Boston,  February.  1893. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Historical  Discourse.     By  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner,  D.D.,  LL.D.   .  13 

Introductory.  By  Rev.  Stephen  Herbert  Roblin  ...  57 
Hosea    Ballou  :     An     Estimate.       By    President    Orello 

Cone,    D.  D 61 

Position  and  Influence  of  the  Church  for  Seventy- Five 

Years.  By  President  Isaac  M.  Atwood,  D.  D.  .  .  77 
The    Opportunity    of    the    Church    To- Day.      By    Prof. 

Charles  H.  Leonard,  D.  D 88 

Social  parts*)  aattjermg. 

Address  by  Mr.  H.  D.  Williams 101 

Toasts:  announced  by  Hon.  A.  A.  Folsom      102,  106,  109,  112, 

114,  120,  124 

Address  by  B.  B.  Whittemore,  Esq 103 

"    Hon.  H.  B.  Metcalf 106 

"    Rev.  Charles  R.  Tenney 109 

"   John  D.  W.  Joy,  Esq 112 

"    Rev.  Dr.  A.  A.  Miner 115 

"   Albert  A.  Gleason,  Esq 120 

"    Rev.  S.  H.  Roblin 124 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

Rev.  Hosea  Ballou Frontispiece 

Rev.  Dr.  A.  A.  Miner 13 

Fac-simile  of  Plate  taken  from  the  Corner  Stone  of  the 

School-Street  Church 15 

The  Old  School- Street  Church 53 

Rev.  S.  H.  Roblin 57 

Rev.  Dr.  E.  H.  Chapin 101 

Church  on  Columbus  Avenue 103 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 


-m- 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE 

By  Rev.  A.  A.  MINER,  D.  D.,  LL.D. 


The  Lord  God  of  your  fathers  make  you  a  thousand  times  as 
many  more  as  ye  are,  and  bless  you,  as  he  hath  promised  you.  — 
Deut.  i.   ii. 

HTHIS  society  was  incorporated  Dec.  13,  18 16, 
*~  under  the  style  of  the  "  Second  Society  of  Uni- 
versalists  in  the  Town  of  Boston,"  John  Brooks  being 
Governor  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  following  gen- 
tlemen were  named  in  the  Act  of  Incorporation,  to 
wit. :  Richard  Faxon,  John  Brazer,  Edmund  Wright, 
Benjamin  Russell,  Thomas  Wiley,  Daniel  C.  Robin- 
son, Martin  Hersey,  Nathaniel  Hammond,  Addison 
Bacon,  William  Barry,  Levi  Melcher,  Elijah  Lorihg, 
Caleb  Wright,  Pelatiah  Rea,  Daniel  E.  Powars,  Joseph 
Badger,  Samuel  Hastings,  Winslow  Wright,  Daniel 
Johnson,  John  W.  Trull,  and  John   Blunt,  Jr. 

Of  these  twenty-one  gentlemen,  seven  were  living 
in  1848,  when  I  became  connected  with  the  parish,  of 
whom  five  were  still  members  of  the  parish  ;  namely, 
William  Barry,  Caleb  Wright,  Daniel  E.  Powars, 
Joseph  Badger,  and  Winslow  Wright. 


14  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

On  Jan.  17,  1817,  Edmund  Wright,  one  of  the  cor- 
porators, was  authorized  by  William  Wetmore,  a 
justice  of  the  peace  for  Suffolk  County,  to  call  a  meet- 
ing of  the  corporators  and  their  associates  at  the 
Green  Dragon  Tavern,  in  Boston,  on  the  evening  of 
Jan.  25,  181 7,  to  organize  the  society  and  choose  the 
necessary  officers.  The  call  for  the  meeting  was 
issued  on  the  same  day,  and  was  held  accordingly. 
John  Brazer  was  chosen  moderator;  Edward  Wright, 
clerk  and  treasurer  ;  and  John  Brazer,  Esq.,  Edmund 
Wright,  Lemuel  Packard,  Jr.,  Dr.  David  Townsend, 
Esq.,  Daniel  E.  Powars,  Levi  Melcher,  and  John 
W.  Trull  were  chosen  the  Standing  Committee. 

It  appears  from  the  records  that  in  February,  181 7, 
forty-three  persons,  including  one  woman,  Miss 
Eunice  Gridley,  had  subscribed  one  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  shares,  at  one  hundred  dollars  each,  to- 
wards a  proposed  meeting-house.  Two  gentlemen, 
John  Brazer  and  Edmund  Wright,  subscribed  fifteen 
shares  each;  Lemuel  Packard,  Jr.,  subscribed  ten; 
five  others,  five  shares  each  ;  one,  four ;  eight,  three 
each  ;  twenty,  two  each ;  and  six,  one  each. 

It  was  expected  that  the  site  of  the  proposed  edifice 
would  be  the  spot  on  which  the  old  French  church 
formerly  stood  in  School  Street,  in  the  pulpit  of  which 
Mr.  Murray  was  stoned  in  1774.  Such  has  been  the 
tradition  respecting  the  site.  This  tradition  had  the 
support  of  Dr.  Thomas  Whittemore,  in  his  life  of 
Hosea  Ballou,  and  was  followed  by  me  in  preparing 
the  chapter  on  Universalism  for  the  "  Memorial  His- 
tory of  Boston  "  in   1881.     That  site  was  indeed  bar- 


The  Second 

Universal  Church 

■d&tsVfa/^X^l/fiTxJllfl  tf  the 

tmuje  Gob, 
"Jesus  Christ 

"Chief  Corner  St  o^e? 


ik 


Mqyijtf  1817^. 


FAC-SIMILE    OF    THE    PLATE    TAKEN    FROM    THE    CORNER- 
STONE   OF    THE    SCHOOL-STREET    CHURCH. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


15 


gained  for,  but  afterward  abandoned  because  of  some 
obstacle  to  the  gaining  of  a  satisfactory  title.  The 
site  finally  determined  on  was  adjacent  to  the  above 
and  next  west  of  it,  being  the  lot  on  which  the  busi- 
ness edifice  known  as  the  "  School  Street  Block  " 
now  stands,  the  fee  of  which  this  parish  still  holds. 
The  estimated  cost  of  the  church  was  $22,000.  When 
completed,  the  hundred  and  thirty-eight  pews,  includ- 
ing twenty  in  the  galleries,  were  valued  at  from  $75  to 
$420  each,  making  an  aggregate  valuation  of  $33,930. 
These  pews  were  taxed  from  $6.76  to  $17.16  per  year, 
making  an  aggregate  income  of  $1839.26  per  year. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  new  edifice  was  laid  May 
19,  181 7,  in  which  was  deposited  a  silver  plate,  the 
gift  of  Dr.  David  Townsend,  with  the  following  in- 
scription :  "  The  Second  Universal  Church,  devoted 
to  the  worship  of  the  True  God  :  Jesus  Christ  being 
the  chief  Corner-Stone.     May   19,   1817." 

As  the  completion  of  the  edifice  drew  near,  a  day 
was  selected  for  the  dedication.  October  15  was 
first  named,  but  as  it  chanced  that  a  cattle  show  at 
Brighton  was  appointed  for  the  15th,  the  dedication 
was  deferred  to  the  16th.  Rev.  Thomas  Jones  of 
Gloucester  preached  the  sermon,  from  John  iv.  23. 
Rev.  Messrs.  Edward  Turner,  Hosea  Ballou,  and  Paul 
Dean  had  been  invited  to  share  the  other  parts  of  the 
programme.  But  Mr.  Ballou  was  in  Vermont,  and 
Mr.  Dean,  though  in  the  pulpit,  took  no  part,  it  was 
said  on  account  of  ill  health.  The  remaining  ser- 
vices, therefore,  were  divided  between  Rev.  Edward 
Turner,  of  Charlestown,  and  Rev.  David  Pickering. 


l6  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

The  By-Laws  adopted  by  the  parish  provided  that 
"  no  minister  shall  be  settled  over  this  society  unless 
three  fourths  of  the  proprietors  present  shall  be  in 
favor  of  such  settlement  after  due  notice  shall  have 
been  given  of  a  meeting  for  that  purpose."  Such 
a  by-law  is  still  in  force. 

Then  came  the  day  for  which  all  other  days  in  this 
history  were  made.  October  21  was  designated  for 
the  meeting  to  select  a  pastor. 

Members  of  the  society  came  to  this  meeting  pre- 
occupied. The  name  of  Hosea  Ballou  had  long  been 
in  their  minds.  At  that  time  he  was  the  most  promi- 
nent advocate  of  Universalism  in  New  England  or  in 
the  United  States.  He  had  been  twenty-six  years  in 
the  ministry  and  was  forty-six  years  of  age.  He  had 
travelled  widely,  and  occupied  several  of  the  most  im- 
portant places  in  our  church.  He  was  majestic  in 
person,  dignified  in  bearing,  and  of  a  noble  presence. 
Wherever  he  went,  crowds  flocked  to  hear  him.  A 
great  impulse  was  given  to  Universalism  wherever  he 
was  heard.  He  was  at  once  the  most  incisive  and  the 
most  aggressive  warrior  in  the  church  militant.  The 
bulwarks  of  error  were  shaken  whenever  his  ord- 
nance was  trained  upon  them.  His  work  on  the 
"  Atonement,"  published  in  1805,  had  opened  well- 
springs  of  spiritual  life  that  made  the  desert  "  blossom 
as  the  rose." 

Long  before  this  he  had  been  heard  in  Boston. 
In  Mr.  Murray's  pulpit  he  had  given  utterance  to 
some  of  the  same  views  that  characterized  his  work 
on    the    Atonement.      These    views    were    Unitarian, 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  ij 

and  antedated  the  Unitarian  denomination.  Rev. 
John  Murray  was  a  Trinitarian.  Mrs.  Murray  caused 
the  audience  to  be  warned,  through  one  Mr.  Balch, 
that  Mr.  Ballou's  sentiments  were  not  in  harmony 
with  the  usual  teachings  of  that  church.  Mr.  Ballou 
quietly  replied  :  "  The  audience  will  please  to  take 
notice  of  what  our  brother  has  said."  Many  of  the 
audience  were  much  displeased  at  this  interruption, 
and  the  parish  committee  held  a  meeting  the  same 
evening,  with  many  members  of  the  parish,  who 
together  called  on  Mr.  Ballou  and  expressed  their 
displeasure. 

Mr.  Ballou  was  at  this  time  (1798)  but  twenty-seven 
years  of  age.  A  desire  sprang  up  soon  after  to  make 
a  place  for  him  in  Boston.  But  Mr.  Murray  of  the 
First  Church  was  aged.  Should  Mr.  Ballou  come  to 
Boston,  it  would  grieve  that  good  man's  heart  and 
undoubtedly  weaken  his  parish.  Mr.  Ballou  would 
not  for  a  moment  listen  to  it. 

Now,  however,  the  circumstances  had  changed. 
Eighteen  to  twenty  years  had  passed.  Mr.  Murray 
had  deceased  two  years  before.  His  colleague,  the 
Rev.  Paul  Dean,  an  eloquent  man,  was  not  such  a 
preacher  as  it  was  felt  the  state  of  theological  opin- 
ion demanded.  That  he  was  opposed  to  Mr.  Ballou's 
coming  to  Boston,  he  distinctly  informed  him.  Never- 
theless, Mr.  Ballou  did  not  now  feel  the  same  objection 
to  listening  to  his  Boston  friends  that  he  felt  during 
the  life  of  Mr.  Murray. 

When  the  parish  was  assembled  on  the  21st  of 
October,  there  was    but   one   thing  it  could  do.     It 


l8  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

had  organized  with  Mr.  Ballou  in  mind.  It  had  built 
a  church  for  his  occupancy.  It  was  about  to  realize 
its  long  cherished  hopes.  By  a  sort  of  divine  neces- 
sity, it  gave  Hosea  Ballou  a  unanimous  invitation  to 
its  pulpit,  which  was  accepted  three  days  later  by 
the  following  letter :  — 

Boston,  Oct.  24,  18 17. 

SIR,  —  The  call  of  the  Second  Universalist  Society  in 
Boston  inviting  me  to  the  labors  of  the  Christian  ministry 
with  them,  together  with  the  liberal  terms  which  accompany 
said  invitation,  have  been  duly  considered.  And  after  weigh- 
ing all  the  circumstances  relative  to  the  subject,  so  far  as  my 
limited  mind  could  comprehend  them,  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  is  my  duty  to  accept  their  call  on  the  con- 
ditions therein  stated. 

I  largely  participate  the  "  peculiar  pleasure "  afforded  by 
the  consideration  of  the  unanimity  of  the  society,  and  enter- 
tain the  humble  hope  that  with  the  continuance  of  this  har- 
mony we  may  long  continue  to  enjoy  all  spiritual  blessings 
in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  society's  most  humble  servant  in  Christ, 

Hosea  Ballou. 
To  John  Brazer,  Esq. 

A  committee  was  chosen,  November  19,  to  propose 
suitable  measures  to  be  adopted  "  to  qualify  the  Rev. 
Hosea  Ballou  as  pastor  of  the  Society." 

November  22  this  committee  reported,  "  That  the 
subject  subside  for  the  present." 

A  month  later,  December  21,  the  society  voted, 
'*  That  the  installation  of  the  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou  take 
place  on  Thursday  next,  at  2  p.  m.,  being  Christmas 
Day." 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


19 


The  services  of  installation  took  place  accordingly : 
Rev.  Paul  Dean  preaching  the  sermon,  from  Acts  xx. 
24,  and  giving  the  fellowship  of  the  churches;  Rev. 
Edward  Turner,  of  Charlestown,  offering  the  installing 
prayer  and  giving  the  charge;  and  Rev.  Joshua  Flagg, 
of  Salem,  offering  the  concluding  prayer.  Thus  were 
completed  the  steps  deemed  necessary  "  to  qualify " 
Mr.  Ballou  for  the  duties  of  pastor. 

A  brilliant  career  was  now  fully  inaugurated.  The 
School  Street  Church  became  at  once  the  centre  of 
the  most  important  influences.  The  Divine  love,  in 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Ballou,  was  the  key  to  an  harmonious 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  rending  away 
of  those  clouds  of  darkness  that  had  so  lone  en- 
shrouded  the  human  mind.  The  rhetoric  of  fire  and 
of  wrath  and  of  the  bottomless  pit  took  its  proper 
place  as  rhetoric,  and  Divine  love  and  compassion  and 
sympathy  and  mercy  became  sacred  realities.  Rough 
men  were  softened,  and  innocent  women  and  children 
could  sleep  at  night.  The  fall  in  Adam  fell  out,  the 
Trinity  became  a  Unity,  and  the  darkness  of  eternal 
woe  was  illumined  by  the  "  Sun  of  Righteousness." 

The  church  was  often  thronged.  Lecture  sermons 
were  numerous,  and  frequently  circulated  in  print  be- 
fore the  audience  left  the  church.  Mr.  Henry  Bowen, 
a  printer  and  a  devoted  friend  of  Mr.  Ballou,  well  re- 
membered by  some  of  us,  rendered  this  great  service. 
Amazement  filled  the  people  as  they  saw  the  sim- 
plicity and  harmony  of  the  Divine  Word.  Charges  of 
heresy  from  all  the  strongholds  of  error  were  hurled 
at  the  preacher,  and  were  repelled  with  pungency  and 


20  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

truth.  Controversies  arose.  Pamphlets,  newspaper 
articles,  and  platform  and  pulpit  discussions  abounded 
on  every  hand.  Most  unwonted  interest  in  religious 
subjects  was  created,  and  Mr.  Ballou  for  a  time  was 
deemed  by  the  outside  world  the  arch-heretic  of  the 
age.  Most  upright  in  his  walk,  extremely  abstemious 
in  his  habits,  and  most  reverent  toward  God  and  his 
holy  Word,  he  was  nevertheless  denounced  as  an  im- 
moral, intemperate,  and  profane  man.  All  this,  how- 
ever, he  both  preached  down  and  lived  down.  Sus- 
tained by  as  noble  a  body  of  men  as  Boston  ever 
knew,  he  "  went  from  strength  to  strength,  every  one 
of  them  in  Zion  appearing  before  God." 

Nor  were  the  labors  of  Mr.  Ballou  confined  to 
Boston  ;  they  could  not  be.  He  was  in  continual 
requisition  at  conventions,  associations,  ordinations, 
installations,  and  a  multitude  of  more  private  but  not 
less  influential  occasions.  Of  a  dignified  and  manly 
presence,  clear  in  his  enunciation,  cogent  in  his  rea- 
sonings, apt  in  his  illustrations,  and  transparent  in  his 
meaning,  even  to  the  comprehension  of  a  child,  he 
was  emphatically  the  man  for  the  people.  Few  men 
have  ever  lived  who  could  lift  the  human  heart  into 
closer  communion  with  God,  or  inspire  it  with  a 
deeper  sense  of  Divine  love. 

Desire  for  the  services  of  such  a  man  could  not  be 
confined  to  Boston.  Few,  however,  were  the  parishes 
that  could  hope  to  win  him  from  his  existing  relations. 
In  respect  to  one  of  these  —  an  invitation  to  the  Sec- 
ond Universalist  Society  of  Philadelphia  in  1822,  at  a 
material  increase  of  salary  —  he  consulted  his  parish. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  2  I 

A  movement  was  at  once  made  which  determined  him 
against  a  change.  For  many  a  year  his  position  as 
Christian  teacher,  counsellor,  and  friend  was  one  of 
growing  confidence  and  influence. 

In  his  numerous  journeyings,  as  might  be  expected, 
many  incidents  occurred  both  instructive  and  amus- 
ing. On  his  way  of  a  Saturday  evening  to  a  town  in 
Essex  County,  while  waiting  for  a  private  conveyance 
from  the  railway  station,  he  stepped  into  a  cottage, 
where  he  found  a  good  woman  washing  her  floor. 
She  cordially  welcomed  him,  and  entered  at  once 
into  conversation.  On  learning  that  her  guest  was 
Mr.  Ballou,  the  Universalist  preacher,  she  expressed 
surprise,  and  inquired  if  he  "  really  believed  that  all 
men  will  be  saved." 

"  Yes,  I  hope  so." 

"  What,"  said  she,  "  is  it  possible  that  sinners  can 
be  saved  just  as  they  are  ?  " 

"  My  good  woman,"  said  he;  "  are  you  going  to  wash 
up  your  floor  just  as  it  is  ?  " 

"  Ah,"  said  she,  "  I  see !  I  never  thought  that  sav- 
ing sinners  was  just  making  them  morally  clean." 

On  one  occasion,  being  introduced  to  a  venerable 
lady,  she  asked  :  "  Are  you  Mr.  Ballou,  the  Univer- 
salist preacher?"  On  being  answered  affirmatively, 
she  further  inquired  :  "  Do  you  preach  the  gospel  of 
the  New  Testament  ?  " 

He  replied  :  "  I  try  to  preach  it." 

"  But,"  said  she,  "  do  you  preach  as  the  Saviour 
preached  ?  " 

"  I  try  to." 


22  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

"  Do  you  preach,  '  Woe  unto  you,  Scribes,  Phari- 
sees, hypocrites '  ? " 

"Ah,  no,"  said  he,  "those  people  do  not  attend  my 
meeting!" 

He  was  equally  apt  in  his  responses  to  pious  igno- 
rance. An  aged  lady  admonished  him  that  the  good 
book  says:  "  In  Adam's  fall  we  sinned  all."  To  which 
he  replied :  "And  the  same  good  book  says :  '  The 
cat  doth  play  and  often  slay.'  " 

Dr.  Whittemore,  in  his  "  Life  of  Ballou,"  narrates  a 
stage-coach  experience  of  Mr.  Ballou,  which  carries  its 
own  moral.  He  had  spent  some  days  in  Nantucket. 
Returning,  at  New  Bedford  he  found  himself  seated 
beside  a  stranger,  who  asked :  "  Are  you  from  Nan- 
tucket, sir  ?  " 

"  I  am,"  replied  Mr.  Ballou. 

"  Is  there  any  news  at  the  island  ? " 

"  I  heard  none,"  said  Mr.  Ballou. 

"  Ah,  well,  they  say  old  Ballou  was  down  there 
preaching  !      Did  you  hear  anything  about  him  ?  " 

"  He  has  been  preaching  there,  sir." 

"  Large  congregations,  I  suppose  ?  Did  you  hear 
him,  sir?  " 

"  I  did,  —  several  times." 

"  Well,  I  don't  like  him.  He  don't  believe  in  future 
punishment;  he  holds  that  all  men  will  go  to  heaven 
when  they  die,  just  as  they  leave  this  world.  I  don't 
like  him.  There  's  Mr.  Dean ;  I  think  he  's  a  very 
fine  man,  —  a  gentleman.  I  should  like  to  hear  him 
preach."  * 

1  Messrs.  Ballou  and  Dean  had  been  some  time  in  controversy,  and 
had  their  respective  partisans. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  23 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  Mr.  Ballou  preach  ?  "  said  Mr. 
Ballou,  very  calmly. 

"  No, —  no,  sir,  I  never  heard  him  preach,  —  I  have 
no  desire  to  hear  him  ;  but  I  should  be  gratified  to 
hear  Mr.   Dean." 

11  Did  you  ever  hear  Mr.  Dean,  sir?  " 

"Yes,  sir,  —  several  times.  He  is  a  fine  man, — a 
gentleman ;  but  Ballou  I  do  not  like  at  all.  He 
preaches  a  horrid  doctrine  !  " 

"  And  what  does  he  preach,  sir,  that  is  horrid  ?  " 

"  Oh,  he  holds  that  all  men  will  go  to  heaven  at 
once  when  they  die  !  " 

"  Well,  sir,  suppose  that  they  do  ;  is  that  horrid  ? 
Is  it  not  very  desirable  that  all  men  shall  become  holy 
and  happy  ?  " 

"  Ah,  sir,  but  he  holds  that  men  will  go  to  heaven 
in  their  sins  !  " 

"  But,  sir,  you  have  confessed  that  you  never  heard 
him  preach ;  how  do  you  know  that  he  preaches  in 
that  manner  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  have  heard  so  a  thousand  times !  " 

"  But  you  may  have  been  misinformed,  my  friend. 
I  am  quite  confident  Mr.  Ballou  holds  no  such  doc- 
trine. If  you  were  to  put  the  question  to  him,  I  think 
he  himself  would  say  he  held  no  such  doctrine." 

"  I  am  surprised !  Well,  what  does  he  hold  to, 
then  ?  " 

11  I  think  if  he  were  here,  he  would  say  he  did  not 
believe  what  you  have  attributed  to  him,  —  that  men 
are  to  go  to  heaven  in  their  sins.  He  probably  would 
say  he  held  that  men  are  to  be  saved  from  their  sins/' 


24  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

"  Well,  you  seem  to  know.  Will  you  let  me  ask 
where  you  live  ?  " 

"  I  live  in  Boston,  sir." 

"  Do  you  attend  a  Universalist  church  ?  " 

"  I  do,  sir." 

"  What  church  do  you  attend,  sir  ?  " 

"  I  attend  Mr.  Ballou's,  sir." 

"  Are  you  intimately  acquainted  with  Mr.  Ballou, 
sir  ?  " 

"  My  name  is  Hosea  Ballou,  my  friend." 

The  stranger's  confusion  may  be  better  imagined 
than  described. 

Near  twenty-five  years  of  faithful  and  laborious  ser- 
vice were  accomplished,  and  the  snows  of  seventy  win- 
ters had  fallen  upon  the  head  of  this  venerable  servant 
of  God.  What  could  be  done  for  his  relief?  He  was 
ready  to  co-operate  in  any  measure  that  would  pro- 
mote the  welfare  of  the  society.  But  who  could  fill 
such  a  position  ?  Is  it  strange  that  opinions  were 
divided  in  respect  to  a  colleague?  "In  1841  com- 
menced those  unfortunate  difficulties  in  regard  to  a 
colleague,  which  continued  with  little  interruption 
until  the  fall  of  1845,  when  the  proprietors  were 
called  together  to  act  upon  a  proposition  to  sell  the 
meeting-house,  and  wind  up  the  affairs  of  the  society. 
It  is  understood  that  this  movement  originated  with 
one  or  two  men  who,  having  become  owners  of  a  con- 
siderable number  of  pews,  had  a  stronger  regard  for 
the  profits  of  such  a  sale  than  for  the  spiritual  inter- 
ests of  the  society.  This  proposition,  however,  was 
rejected  by  a  decisive  vote  of  more  than  two  to  one 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


25 


out  of  one  hundred  votes  cast."  During  this  period 
the  pulpit  was  supplied  one  half  of  the  time  by  Mr. 
Ballou,  and  the  other  half  by  Rev.  T.  C.  Adam  as  a 
candidate  from  May,  1842,  to  January,  1843;  by  Rev- 
H.  B.  Soule  as  a  candidate  from  May,  1844,  to  May, 
1845  ;  and  the  remainder  of  the  time  by  the  Standing 
Committee. 

The  history  of  the  society  for  the  next  three  years 
is  well  presented  by  the  Hon.  Newton  Talbot,  from 
whom  a  portion  of  the  preceding  paragraph  is  quoted, 
in  an  article  published  in  1851  in  a  little  work  entitled 
"  Our  Gift,"  written  exclusively  by  the  teachers  of  the 
Sunday-school  of  that  period.  We  make  the  following 
extracts  :  — 

"  That  portion  of  the  Society  who  voted  against  the  propo- 
sition to  sell  had,  early  that  year,  taken  counsel  together 
in  regard  to  the  future  prosperity  of  the  Society.  Father 
Ballou  [who  had  already  voluntarily  relinquished  the  greater 
part  of  his  salary]  expressed  a  willingness  to  be  relieved 
from  all  active  duties  as  pastor  of  the  Society,  other  than 
those  he  might  choose  to  perform  as  senior  pastor;  and 
also  to  relinquish  his  salary  if  the  Society  felt  that  with 
their  whole  means  they  would  be  able  to  secure  the  ser- 
vices of  one  who  would  again  unite  them  together.  Accord- 
ingly, Sept.  28,  1845,  tne  proprietors  were  called  together, 
and  his  proposition  was  accepted.  They  also  unanimously 
invited  the  Rev.  E.  H.  Chapin  to  become  junior  pastor  at 
a  yearly  salary  of  two  thousand  dollars,  and  on  the  8th  of 
November  the  following  acceptance  of  their  call  was  re- 
ceived by  the  committee,  through  whom  the  invitation  was 
tendered :  — 


26  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 


Charlestown,  Nov.  8,  1845. 
Brethren,  —  The  invitation  to  become  associate  pastor  of  your 
Society,  which  you  have  extended  to  me,  is  hereby  accepted.  Pre- 
liminaries relative  to  the  time  when  I  can  assume  my  connection 
with  you  must  be  the  subject  of  future  communications.  And  that 
God  may  bless  this  decision  to  your  good,  to  mine,  and  to  His 
glory,  is  the  prayer  of 

Yours  fraternally, 

E.  H.  Chapin. 
To  the  Committee. 


Brother  Chapin  was  installed  Jan.  28,  1846.  The 
sermon  was  delivered  by  Father  Ballou,  from  1  Peter 
iv.  10,  11.  Rev.  Messrs.  Cook,  Hichborn,  Streeter, 
H.  Ballou,  2d,  Skinner,  Fay,  and  Cleverly,  took  parts 
in  the  services. 

"At  the  annual  meeting  in  May,  1846,  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  express  to  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou  the  feelings  of 
high  regard  unanimously  cherished  towards  him  by  the 
society,  in  consideration  of  his  long  and  valuable  services 
as  their  pastor ;  and  to  assure  him  that  their  prayers  for  his 
welfare  were  still  with  him  in  his  relations  as  senior  pastor  of 
the  society.  To  this  the  following  reply  was  received  by  the 
committee :  — 

Boston,  May  25,  1846. 
Messrs.  Benajah  Brigham,  Joseph  Lincoln,  and  Bela  Beal: 

Brethren,  —  After  having  enjoyed  so  many  years  of  pastoral 
connection  with  the  Second  Universalist  Society  in  this  city,  and 
having  served  the  same  for  so  long  a  time  with  constant  solicitude 
for  their  spiritual  prosperity  and  with  a  consciousness  of  my  imper- 
fections, I  find  that  words  are  insufficient  to  express  the  satisfaction 
I  feel  on  the  reception  of  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  society  expres- 
sive of  their  approbation  of  my  services  as  pastor,  and  their  prayers 
for  my  happiness  in  my  present  position  as  senior.  You  will, 
brethren,  accept  my  thanks  for  the   acceptable  manner  in  which 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  27 

you  have  communicated  the  vote  of  the  society  to  me,  and  assure 
the  society  of  my  fervent  prayer  for  their  spiritual  prosperity  under 
their  junior  pastor. 

In  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel, 

Hosea  Ballou. 

"  At  the  annual  meeting  in  1847,  the  Standing  Committee 
were  directed  to  invite  Father  Ballou  to  sit  for  his  portrait, 
and  that  the  same  when  finished  be  placed  in  Murray  Hall. 
This  work  was  successfully  executed,  and  Father  Ballou 
expressed  himself  highly  complimented  by  the  action  of  the 
society  in  regard  to  it.  [This  portrait  now  hangs  in  the 
lecture-room  of  this  church.] 

"  Early  in  1848  the  society  were  called  together  to  act 
upon  the  following  letter  from  Brother  Chapin :  — 

Boston,  Feb.  5,  1848. 

Brethren,  — After,  as  I  trust,  deliberate  and  proper  considera- 
tion, I  have  concluded  to  take  up  my  connection  with  your  society 
and  accept  of  the  invitation  from  New  York.  I  might  extend  this 
letter  to  great  length  and  yet  not  express  the  feelings  with  which  I 
do  this  act.  I  can  only  say  that  I  do  so  with  the  utmost  kindness 
and  with  deep  gratitude,  and  shall  always  cherish,  with  unalloyed 
satisfaction,  the  harmonious  season  we  have  passed  together.  I 
invoke  God's  blessing  upon  the  society  you  represent,  and  to  you 
personally  tender  the  warmest  sentiments  of  regard. 
Fraternally  yours, 

E.  H.  Chapin. 

To  the  Standing  Committee. 

"At  the  same  meeting,  Feb.  20,  1848,  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner 
was  invited  to  become  the  junior  pastor  of  the  society  at  the 
same  salary  which  had  been  paid  Brother  Chapin,  and  on  the 
15th  of  March  the  committee  received  the  following  letter, 
accepting  the  invitation :  — 

Lowell,  March  15,  1848. 

Brethren,  —  The  invitation  which  I  received  at  your  hands,  to 
become  the  associate  pastor  of  the  Second  Society  of  Universalists 


28  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

in  Boston,  has  been  considered  and  is  hereby  accepted.  Although 
this  decision  seemed  compatible  with  my  duty,  it  has  not  been  ar- 
rived at  without  a  severe  trial,  both  on  account  of  the  existing  ties 
it  will  sever,  and  of  my  conscious  unfitness  for  so  responsible  a  sta- 
tion. Trusting,  however,  in  Him  who  is  always  able  to  help  us,  I 
remain 

Yours  in  the  Gospel, 

A.  A.  Miner. 
To  the  Committee. 

"  On  the  last  Sunday  in  April  Brother  Chapin  preached 
his  farewell  sermon  from  the  text,  '  And  now,  brethren,  I 
commend  you  to  God,  and  to  the  word  of  his  grace,  which  is 
able  to  build  you  up,  and  to  give  you  an  inheritance  among 
them  which  are  sanctified.'     (Acts  xx.  32.) 

"Brother  Miner  was  installed  May  31.  Sermon  by  Mr. 
Chapin,  from  John  x.  10.  The  other  services  were  per- 
formed by  Rev.  Messrs.  Dennis,  Mott,  Ballou,  H.  Ballou, 
2d,  Fay,  Streeter,  and  Cook. 

"  Under  the  ministry  of  Brother  Chapin,  the  Society  was 
united  and  prosperous;  and  under  the  present  ministry  of 
Brother  Miner  that  union  and  prosperity  are  unabated. 
May  the  favor  of  God  grant  them  a  long  continuance." 

Thus  far  Mr.  Talbot,  writing  three  years  after  the 
latter  relationship  was  established. 

Several  events  along  this  line  of  thirty-one  years 
should  be  noted.  At  the  building  of  the  original 
church  in  School  Street,  Mr.  John  Brazer  donated  a 
clock ;  Mr.  Lemuel  Packard  generously  donated  a 
chandelier.  In  1836  the  society  built  the  vestry  in 
the  attic  story  of  the  church,  long  known  as  Murray 
Hall;  and  in  1837  the  interior  of  the  church  was 
altered  by  a  new  pulpit,  new  ceiling,  the  introduction 
of  gas,  painting  anew,  etc.,  at  an  expense  of  about 
five  thousand  dollars.     In  1840  an  organ  was  placed  in 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


29 


the  church,  which  later  gave  place  to  a  larger  one — Mr. 
Charles  Henderson,  Jr.,  being  organist  from  1846  to 
1872,  when  the  church  was  demolished.  At  an  earlier 
period,  1833,  and  later,  the  celebrated  Miss  Charlotte 
Cushman  was  the  leading  soprano.  Afterward  Mrs.  J. 
H.  Long  and  Mrs.  Minnie  Little  successively  were  the 
sopranos,  in  connection  with  Mr.  S.  B.  Ball  as  tenor. 
The  music  during  these  years  gave  great  satisfaction. 
Mrs.  Little  and  Mr.  Ball  served  eighteen  years. 

In  185 1  the  junior  pastor  [Mr.  Miner]  was  waited 
upon  by  a  committee  from  Philadelphia,  of  which  the 
late  Charles  H.  Rogers,  Esq.,  was  chairman,  with 
reference  to  removal  to  that  city.  On  consultation 
with  the  committee  of  his  own  society,  he  declined 
their  overtures.  The  society  determined  to  enter 
at  once  upon  an  extensive  recast  of  its  church, — 
raising  it  up,  moving  it  back,  rearing  a  new  front, 
making  new  windows,  building  a  Sunday-school  and 
lecture  room  below  the  church,  etc.,  etc.,  all  at  an 
expense  of  nearly  nineteen  thousand  dollars.  There- 
upon the  pastor  was  given  leave  of  absence  for  five 
months,  which  he  spent  in  foreign  travel. 

Meanwhile  the  venerable  senior  pastor  occasionally 
ministered  to  the  congregation,  and  was  always  heard 
with  interest  and  profit.  When  not  thus  employed 
he  commonly  ministered  to  parishes  more  or  less 
distant,  which  always  heard  him  with  delight.  His 
last  pulpit  service  was  in  the  Universalist  Church  of 
Woonsocket,  R.  I.,  of  which  the  Rev.  John  Boyden, 
once  a  theological  student  with  Mr.  Ballou,  was  at 
that  time  pastor. 


3<D  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

Whenever  his  leisure  permitted,  he  was  always  in 
the  pulpit  with  his  junior.  His  presence  was  ever 
inspiring,  and  his  comments  most  appreciative  and 
helpful.  On  one  occasion,  at  close  of  services,  he  re- 
marked, "  The  devil  will  never  thank  you  for  that 
sermon."  His  comments  were  often  couched  in  sim- 
ilar quaintness  of  expression.  The  private  inter- 
change of  calls  and  other  courtesies  between  the  two 
pastors  were  always  of  the  most  cordial  character. 
Had  they  sustained  to  each  other  the  relation  of 
father  and  son,  their  intercourse  could  not  have 
been  more  genial. 

Preparing  one  morning  for  attendance  upon  a  con- 
vention at  Plymouth,  Mr.  Ballou  was  seized  with 
faintness,  and  died  on  the  following  Monday,  the 
7th  of  June,  1852.  The  junior  pastor,  in  company 
with  Rev.  Thomas  Whittemore  and  Rev.  Hosea 
Ballou,  2d,  called  upon  the  venerable  man  but  an  hour 
or  two  before  his  death.     His  end  was  peace. 

Thus  concludes  what  may  be  called  the  ancient 
history  of  this  church. 

Initial  steps  in  the  founding  of  a  college  were  taken 
in  1847.  The  result  at  length  was  the  establishment 
of  Tufts  on  yonder  beautiful  hill.  Its  first  president, 
Rev.  Dr.  Ballou,  known  as  Hosea  Ballou,  2d,  or 
more  familiarly  as  "  Cousin,"  a  grand-nephew  of 
Hosea  Ballou,  your  pastor,  deceased  May  27,  1861, 
—  a  great  loss  to  the  college  and  to  our  general 
church. 

From  various  untoward  circumstances  the  condi- 
tion of  the  college  wras  unsatisfactory.    Some  students 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  31 

had  enlisted  in  the  war.  The  number  in  attendance 
did  not  exceed  forty. 

Moreover,  its  financial  condition  was  well-nigh  des- 
perate. Aside  from  the  meagre  receipts  from  tuition, 
the  only  income  was  a  thousand  dollars  interest  on 
a  bond  of  Mr.  Silvanus  Packard,  a  member  of  this 
parish.  The  college  was  eighteen  thousand  dollars  in 
debt,  and  was  increasing  its  indebtedness  at  the  rate 
of  about  five  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

At  an  informal  meeting  of  the  parish,  held  June  1, 
1862,  the  late  Dr.  T.  K.  Taylor  being  moderator,  and 
the  Hon.  Newton  Talbot  clerk,  Thomas  A.  Goddard 
offered  the  following  preamble  and  vote,  which  were 
adopted :  — 

"  Whereas,  it  is  understood  that  the  Trustees  of  Tufts  Col- 
lege are  desirous  that  our  pastor,  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner,  should 
become  the  President  of  this  Institution,  devoting  a  portion 
of  his  time  to  it,  without  salary,  and  without  interrupting  his 
connection  with  this  society,  — 

"  Voted,  That  in  view  of  the  present  condition  of  our  coun- 
try and  the  financial  condition  of  the  college,  we  hereby  give 
our  cordial  assent  to  this  arrangement." 

Thus  the  parish  supported  its  pastor  for  three  and 
a  half  years,  and  allowed  him  to  give  the  greater 
part  of  his  time  gratuitously  to  the  college.  This 
arrangement  lasted,  save  as  respects  the  salary,  more 
than  a  dozen  years,  —  the  pastor  generally  preach- 
ing, during  the  early  part  of  this  period,  one  sermon 
to  the  society  and  one  to  the  college  every  Sunday, 
giving  instruction  in  the  college  on  four  days  of  the 
week,  and  attending  to  parish  work  in  spare  hours. 


32  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

During  the  last  five  of  these  years  he  had  material 
assistance. 

Of  course,  I  soon  set  about  raising  money,  and 
my  first  urgent  appeal  was  to  my  own  parish,  se- 
curing a  noble  response.  That  appeal  was  made 
Oct.  4,  1863,  and  the  contribution  amounted  to 
$15,510.56,  of  which  Thomas  A.  Goddard  gave  ten 
thousand. 

This  example  made  possible  the  raising  of  consider- 
able sums  elsewhere.  The  State  appropriated  fifty 
thousand  dollars;  William  J.  Walker,  M.  D.,  who  had 
never  been  known  as  a  sympathizer  with  our  body, 
called  me  to  visit  him  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  giving  me 
ten  thousand  dollars  at  one  time,  twenty  thousand 
dollars  at  another,  and  finally  bequeathing  to  the  col- 
lege a  large  fraction  of  his  great  estate.  Oliver  Dean, 
M.  D.,  and  Silvanus  Packard,  Esq.,  both  members  of 
this  parish,  also  left  legacies  to  the  college,  —  the 
latter,  of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Of  course,  this  double  duty  was  found  very  onerous. 
March  14,  1864,  the  parish,  after  a  conference  with 
the  pastor,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  assured  him  that 
their  "  love  and  affection  continued  unabated,"  and 
that  they  "  desired  him  to  remain  as  pastor  of  the 
Society."  To  this  end,  it  was  proposed  that  he  be 
expected  to  preach  but  once  each  Sunday,  the  college 
meeting  the  supply  for  the  other  service,  to  which  the 
college  "  cordially  agreed."  This  arrangement  was 
adopted. 

After  two  more  years  had  elapsed,  I  sent  to  the 
parish  the  following  letter :  — 


SEVENTY-FIFTH   ANNIVERSARY. 


33 


Boston,  March  16,  1866. 
To  the  Second  Society  of  Universalists  : 

Dear  Brethren,  —  Of  the  eighteen  years  during  which 
I  have  had  the  happiness  to  be  connected  with  you  in  the 
pastoral  relation,  nearly  four  have,  with  your  consent,  been 
devoted  largely  to  other  interests  than  those  of  the  parish. 
The  sacrifices  of  the  society  during  those  years  have  been 
great,  but  I  hope  not  without  profit  to  our  infant  college. 

Understanding  that  the  Trustees  of  the  college  are  unwill- 
ing that  I  shall  abandon  its  charge,  and  that  the  parish  deem 
it  inexpedient  that  I  should  wholly  dissolve  my  existing  rela- 
tions with  it,  I  shall  cordially  welcome  an  associate,  should  it 
be  your  pleasure  to  elect  one,  and  commit  to  him  the  direction 
of  parochial  affairs. 

That  the  whole  matter  may  be  in  your  hands,  I  hereby  sub- 
mit to  you  all  questions  of  salary,  as  regards  both  amount 
and  date  of  change,  for  such  readjustment  as  you  shall  deem 
proper. 

Trusting  that  the  prosperity  of  the  years  which  have 
passed  into  history  will  prove  but  a  prophecy  of  that  yet 
in  store  for  you, 

I  remain,  with  grateful  affection, 

Your  pastor, 

A.  A.  Miner. 

The  suggestions  of  this  letter  were  promptly  and 
favorably  acted  upon.  Messrs.  T.  K.  Taylor,  James 
O.  Curtis,  James  M.  Jacobs,  J.  R.  Elliott,  and  S.  P. 
Ridler  were  made  a  committee  to  whom  this  letter 
was  referred,  and  who  were  instructed  "  to  present  the 
name  of  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  office  of  associate 
pastor,  and  also  to  take  into  consideration  the  amount 
of  salary  to  be  paid  to  him." 

3 


34  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF  UNIVERSALISTS. 

On  June  7,  1866,  this  committee  reported  the  name 
of  Rev.  Rowland  Connor,  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  and  rec- 
ommended that  his  salary  be  twenty-five  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  that  the  senior's  be  one  thousand  dollars, — 
the  college,  at  this  time  having  become  self-sustaining, 
paying  him  three  thousand.  Mr.  Connor  was  elected, 
and  the  several  recommendations  of  the  committee 
were  adopted.  Mr.  Connor  accepted  the  invitation 
Oct.  24,  1866,  but  did  not  enter  upon  his  duties  till 
January,  1867.  On  January  2  he  was  duly  installed, 
—  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner  preaching  the  sermon,  from 
John  vi.  63,  and  the  other  parts  being  borne  by 
Rev.  Messrs.  C.  J.  White,  C.  A.  Skinner,  E.  H.  Chapin, 
A.  J.  Patterson,  T.  B.  Thayer,  D.  C.  Delong,  and 
O.  F.  Safford. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  the  relations  of  the 
junior  pastor  were  not  likely  to  prove  amicable 
relations. 

At  a  legal  meeting  of  the  society,  June  27,  1867, 
the  Standing  Committee  presented  the  following : 

"  The  Standing  Committee  of  this  society  have  called  this 
meeting  that  they  might  present  to  the  proprietors  a  few 
important  facts  bearing  upon  the  interests  of  the  society. 

"  The  utterances  of  this  pulpit  on  most  vital  Christian 
doctrines  for  a  period  of  fifty  years  have  been  substantially 
uniform.  They  have  affirmed,  among  other  things,  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  divinely  inspired 
authority  of  Christ  as  a  teacher,  and  the  spotlessness  of  his 
example.  Upon  the  foundation  thus  laid  has  the  parish 
based  its  labors  as  a  Christian  parish;  guided  by  these  prin- 
ciples, it  has  sought  to  make  Christ  its  leader,  and  to  emulate 
his  virtues. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


35 


"  The  long  season  of  rare  prosperity  which  it  has  enjoyed 
sufficiently  attests  the  vitality  and  life-giving  power  of  such 
ministrations. 

"  It  is  well  known  that  views  the  opposite  of  these  have 
been  long  received  by  some  in  this  community.  In  the  set- 
tlement of  a  junior  pastor,  therefore,  we  were  anxious  not  to 
change  the  general  character  of  our  labors  as  a  parish,  and 
especially  not  to  introduce  rationalistic  teaching  into  our  pul- 
pit. We  wrote  Rev.  Dr.  Fisher  on  this  subject,  and  some 
of  our  members  conversed  freely  with  the  candidate,  with  a 
view  to  ascertain  his  position  in  these  respects,  and  the  evi- 
dence appeared  to  be  satisfactory. 

"  Our  junior  pastor  had  not  been  long  with  us,  however, 
before  it  began  to  be  rumored  that  he  had  already  shaken 
the  confidence  of  some  of  his  ministering  brethren  regarding 
his  soundness,  which  rumor  was  not  a  little  strengthened  by 
his  placing  in  the  pulpit  a  man  well  known  to  hold  extreme 
views  in  the  denial  of  all  distinctively  Christian  doctrines. 
When  asked  if  he  sympathized  with  those  doctrines,  he  an- 
swered, '  sufficiently  to  make  them  no  bar  to  fellowship.' 

"  At  a  later  date  our  junior  pastor  joined  hands  with  other 
representatives  of  the  foregoing  errors  in  calling  a  meeting 
at  Horticultural  Hall  for  anniversary  week,  'to  consider  the 
conditions,  wants,  and  prospects  of  free  religion  in  America.' 

11  That  meeting  was  characterized  by  a  rejection  of  the 
Bible  as  authority  and  Christ  as  a  leader.  Though  Brother 
Connor  spoke  at  that  meeting,  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
repudiated  the  unchristian  sentiments  there  uttered  ;  but  he 
did  accept  an  official  position  in  the  association  formed  for 
their  furtherance. 

"  As  such  a  course  was  pointedly  opposed  to  the  work  for 
which  we  had  called  him,  your  committee  felt  it  a  duty  most 
affectionately  to  remonstrate  with  him,  sincerely  hoping  that 
he  would  perceive  the  incongruities  of  his  course,  and 
hereafter  work  directly  to  Christian  ends;    but  their  efforts 


36  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

were  in  vain.  They  adjourned  the  meeting,  and  asked 
him  to  think  of  the  matter  further;  but  the  result  was  the 
same. 

"  After  repeated  interviews  with  him  by  the  committee, 
and  by  the  senior  pastor  at  the  committee's  request,  in  which 
the  impropriety  of  his  course  was  kindly  but  vainly  urged, 
he  still  further  showed  his  disregard  of  counsel  by  agreeing 
to  speak  again  on  religious  radicalism  at  Minot  Hall  a  week 
or  two  since. 

11  Thus  our  kindest  and  most  fraternal  efforts  have  been 
unavailing,  and  there  remained  but  two  alternatives,  either 
to  surrender  our  work  pursued  for  fifty  years,  or  surrender 
him  on  whom  we  had  in  part  leaned  for  the  continuance  of 
that  work.     Between  the  two  we  could  not  hesitate. 

"  Your  committee,  therefore,  unconditionally  recommend 
the  adoption  of  the  following  vote  :  That  the  Rev.  Rowland 
Connor  be  kindly  requested  to  resign  his  position  as  our 
junior  pastor." 

This  vote  was  adopted.  The  resignation,  however, 
was  not  presented,  and  the  committee  was  directed  to 
supply  the  pulpit  while  the  question  of  resignation 
remained  unsettled. 

On  the  27th  of  July,  still  protesting  against  the 
action  of  the  society,  Mr.  Connor  tendered  his  resig- 
nation, to  take  effect  Jan.  1,  1868.  These  conditions 
being  unsatisfactory,  at  a  meeting  of  the  proprietors, 
July  30,  he  was  dismissed.  For  less  than  half  a  years 
service  he  was  paid  more  than  four  fifths  of  a  year's 
salary.  Some  excellent  members  of  the  parish  were 
temporarily  misled  and  aggrieved,  but  soon  discover- 
ing their  mistake,  in  a  most  manly  and  Christian 
manner  they  returned  to  their  former  relations,  where 
they  were  gladly  welcomed. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


37 


What  might  have  become  a  great  disaster  was 
averted  by  the  pastor  entering  upon  a  discussion  of 
the  vital  elements  of  Christianity  in  a  somewhat  pro- 
tracted series  of  discourses. 

But  there  is  an  element  of  good  in  things  evil. 
The  press  of  the  city,  which  had  had  little  occasion 
for  gratitude  to  the  senior  pastor  for  any  high  com- 
mendation of  its  work,  took  occasion  to  denounce  him, 
as  well  as  his  parish,  for  what  it  was  pleased  to  call 
their  "  bigotry  and  narrowness."  The  whole  public 
was  thus  made  aware  that  the  Universalist  Church 
not  only  adhered  indissolubly  to  temperance,  on  the 
one  hand,  but  also  to  Christ  and  the  Bible  on  the 
other.  From  that  day  on  the  classifying  of  Univer- 
salists  with  infidels,  atheists,  deists,  sceptics,  and 
drunkards  entirely  ceased.  The  work  of  a  liquor 
press  accomplished  in  a  month  what  our  whole  church 
could  not  have  done  in  twenty  years. 

Having  for  nearly  a  year  borne  the  chief  burden  of 
parochial  duties,  greatly  enhanced  by  the  afflictions 
we  had  endured,  I  was  much  pleased  that  another 
movement  for  an  associate  was  about  to  be  made,  — 
a  movement  of  far  greater  promise  than  the  experi- 
ence recently  concluded. 

On  March  31,  1868,  the  Rev.  Henry  Irving  Cush- 
man  was  invited  to  the  office  of  associate  pastor  at  a 
salary  of  three  thousand  dollars. 

At  the  same  meeting  it  was  "Voted,  That  it  is  the 
earnest  desire  of  this  society  that  the  relation  of  Dr. 
Miner  to  it,  as  senior  pastor,  may  be  a  permanent 
one." 


J 


8  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 


Accompanying  the  formal  vote,  the  Standing 
Committee  addressed  to  the  Rev.  H.  I.  Cushman 
the  following  letter,  suggested  no  doubt  by  their  then 
recent  experience  :  — 

Rev.  Henry  I.  Cushman: 

Dear  Sir,  —  We  have  the  pleasure  to  communicate  to 
you  the  following  vote  passed  unanimously  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Second  Society  of  Universalists  in  this  city  held 
March  31 :  — 

"  Voted,  That  we  invite  the  Rev.  Henry  I.  Cushman  to 
become  associate  pastor  of  the  society  at  an  annual  salary 
of  three  thousand  dollars." 

In  extending  to  you  this  unanimous  invitation  to  become 
the  associate  of  Rev.  Dr.  Miner,  it  is  not  improper  that  we 
should  tell  you  frankly  that  we  do  it  in  the  belief  that  you 
are  a  distinctive  Universalist,  —  a  denominational  Universal- 
ist ;  and  that  while  you  will  devote  all  your  energies  to  the 
spiritual  good  of  your  parishioners  and  the  upbuilding  of  our 
parish,  you  will  at  the  same  time  neglect  nothing  which  will 
tend  to  the  good  of  the  whole  denomination. 

It  is  needless,  perhaps,  for  us  to  say  that  we  look  upon 
our  beloved  pastor,  Dr.  Miner,  with  sentiments  of  love  and 
respect  which  twenty  years  of  devotion  to  his  society  and  to 
the  interests  of  our  denomination,  as  well  as  to  the  highest 
good  of  humanity,  could  alone  engender;  and  while  we  shall 
greet  you  warmly  as  his  associate,  we  trust  we  shall  long 
look  up  to  him  with  grateful  love  as  our  senior  pastor. 

We  may  also  frankly  tell  you  that,  believing  fully  in  the 
independence  of  the  pulpit,  we  still  think  it  the  duty  of  the 
pastor  to  consult  at  all  times  the  true  interests  of  the  parish; 
to  this  end  we  recommend  a  frequent  and  candid  commu- 
nication between  pastor  and  the  Standing  Committee.  By 
this  means  our  sainted  Father  Ballou  and  our  £ood  jjn  Miner 


SEVENTY-FIFTH   ANNIVERSARY.  39 

have  always  maintained  the  most  amicable  understanding  with 
the  society. 

We  are  aware  that  in  inviting  you  into  this  portion  of  the 
Master's  field  we  may  be  placing  a  heavy  burden  on  your 
shoulders,  for  all  the  parochial  duty  of  visiting,  and  most  of 
the  other  parochial  duties,  will  fall  upon  you ;  still,  we  have 
that  confidence  in  your  ability,  your  good  judgment,  and 
your  Christian  character,  that,  with  the  blessing  of  God, 
which  we  fervently  invoke,  you  will  succeed  in  making 
yourself  beloved  of  this  people,  and  respected  by  all  good 
men. 

Finally,  while  we  propose  to  you  to  assume  these  respon- 
sible duties,  we  hope  not  on  our  part  to  be  wanting  in  our 
own  share  of  them ;  we  believe  we  can  promise  you  all  co- 
operation and  assistance  it  is  in  our  power  to  give  you,  both 
as  a  society  and  individually. 

Trusting  that  we  may  receive  a  favorable  response  to  this 
invitation,  we  have  the  honor  to  be,  on  behalf  of  the  society, 
Yours  fraternally, 

James  M.  Jacobs, 
Thomas  A.  Goddard, 
William  Robinson, 
Stephen  Stoddard, 
Henry  T.  Spear, 
David  Chamberlain, 
James  D.  Perkins, 

Standing  Committee. 


REV.    MR.    CUSHMAN'S    REPLY. 

Dear  Brethren,  —  Your  communication  announcing  the 
vote  passed  at  a  meeting  of  your  society  held  in  the  vestry 
of  School  Street  Church  on  the  evening  of  March  31,  1868, 
inviting  me  to  the  position  of  associate  pastor,  is  received. 


40  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

In  reply  I  can  but  express,  in  the  first  place,  my  hearty 
appreciation  of  the  high  compliment  which  I  feel  such  a  vote 
conveys  to  me. 

It  is  not  without  a  deep  feeling  of  the  great  responsibility 
which  the  position  involves,  nor  is  it  without  much  thought 
and  prayer,  that  I  accept  your  invitation  upon  the  terms 
mentioned  in  the  vote. 

I  read  with  much  satisfaction  your  expression  of  love  and 
respect  for  your  tried  and  faithful  pastor,  Dr.  Miner;  and 
in  all  these  expressions,  be  assured,  I  find  but  my  own 
sentiments. 

In  your  communication  you  say  that  you  extend  the  invi- 
tation in  the  belief  that  I  am  a  distinctive,  a  denominational, 
Universalist.  If  I  understand  your  meaning,  I  have  only  to 
say  in  reply  to  this,  that  I  regard  our  beloved  faith  as  the 
most  complete  expression  of  Christianity ;  and  that  I  believe 
our  people  as  a  denomination  of  Christians  have  a  mission 
in  history.  In  this  view  I  shall  endeavor  to  do  all  in  my 
power,  with  Divine  assistance,  to  advance  the  interests  not 
only  of  a  particular  parish,  but  of  the  denomination  at  large, 
believing  that  thus  I  should  be  best  advancing  the  cause  of 
Christ  in  the  world. 

I  desire  to  thank  you  for  your  kind  promise  of  co-opera- 
tion in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  parish,  and  I  trust  by 
faithfulness  to  merit  such  co-operation. 

In  conclusion,  now,  it  is  not  improper  for  me  to  refer  to 
one  or  two  matters  of  detail,  namely :  I  should  be  willing  to 
leave  the  supply  of  the  pulpit  to  be  arranged  between  the 
pastors;  I  take  the  liberty  to  ask  the  month  of  August  in 
each  year  for  needed  rest  from  labor. 

If,  with  these  considerations,  you  shall  desire  to  welcome 
me  as  the  associate  pastor  over  your  Society,  I  should  feel 
to  enter  into  the  relation  the  first  of  June  of  this  year;  and 
I  should  do  so  with  full  confidence  in  my  senior  associate 
and  in  the  society.     With  a  deep  sense  of  my  own  responsi- 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY 


41 


bility,  and  with  prayer  that  "  grace,  mercy,  and  peace  from 
God  the  Father,  and  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  be  and 
abide  with  us  forever," 

With  much  respect  I  am  your  brother  in  Christ, 

Henry  Irving  Cushman. 

East  Cambridge,  Mass.,  April  6,  1868. 

Under  date  of  April  2,  1868,  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee addressed  a  letter  touching  the  foregoing 
action,  and  presenting  the  votes  of  the  proprietors 
on  March  31,  1868,  to  Dr.  Miner,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  a  copy  :  — 

Rev.  A.  A.  Miner,  D.  D. : 

Beloved  Pastor,  —  At  a  meeting  of  the  members  of  the 
Second  Society  of  Universalists  held  on  the  31st  ultimo,  it 
was  unanimously  voted  to  invite  Rev.  Henry  I.  Cushman  to 
become  your  associate  in  the  pastorate  of  the  School  Street 
Church. 

At  the  same  meeting  (as  you  have  already  been  verbally 
informed)  a  vote  was  passed,  also  unanimously,  expressive 
of  the  desire  of  the  society  that  your  connection  with  it  as 
senior  pastor  should  be  a  permanent  one.  That  vote  is  in 
these  words :  — 

"  Voted,  That  it  is  the  earnest  desire  of  this  society  that 
the  relation  of  Dr.  Miner  to  it  as  senior  pastor  may  prove 
a  permanent  one ;  and  that  the  Standing  Committee  consult 
with  him  and  report  at  the  adjourned  meeting  the  amount  of 
salary  to  be  paid  him." 

As  remarked  above,  these  words  express  the  desire  of  the 
society ;  but  they  fall  far  short  of  expressing  the  feeling  of 
affection  and  esteem,  as  well  as  of  high  respect,  towards  you, 
which  found  utterance  at  that  meeting,  and  which  were  but 
an  echo  of  the  general  voice  of  your  parishioners. 


42  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

This  society  has  always  been  ready  to  do  its  share 
towards  any  object  where  the  good  of  the  Univcrsalist  de- 
nomination was  concerned.  In  a  great  measure  you  have 
educated  them  up  to  this  high  standard;  your  words  and 
your  deeds  have  alike  inspired  them.  Thus,  when  it  became 
apparent  that,  all  circumstances  considered,  it  was  best  that 
you  should  take  the  presidency  of  Tufts  College,  much  as 
they  wanted  you  all  the  time  at  School  Street,  yet  the  gen- 
eral good  of  our  cause  was  felt  to  be  paramount  to  their  own 
desires,  and  they  assented  to  your  becoming  the  head  of  the 
college. 

Be  assured,  dear  sir,  that  nothing  would  have  prevailed 
upon  them  to  consent  to  this  but  the  belief  that  the  general 
good  of  the  Universalist  cause  demanded  your  services  at 
the  college. 

Be  assured,  also,  that  the  respect,  esteem,  and  affection 
which  they  bear  you  now  will  continue  to  be  uppermost  in 
their  hearts;  and  their  hope  is  a  sincere  one  that  your  con- 
nection with  them  as  senior  pastor  may  be  long  continued. 

They  will  hope  to  hear  as  often  as  possible  your  exhorta- 
tions from  the  pulpit;  and  their  earnest  prayer  will  ascend 
to  our  Almighty  Father  that  health  and  happiness  may  be 
the  portion  of  yourself  and  of  your  estimable  companion, 
with  both  of  whom  they  have  passed  so  many  pleasant  years 
in  the  past,  and  hope  yet  to  pass  many  more  in  the  future. 

In  behalf  of  the  Standing  Committee  I  am,  dear  sir,  affec- 
tionately yours, 

James  M.  Jacobs,  Chairman. 

DR.    MINER'S    REPLY. 

April  14,  1868. 
To  the  Second  Universalist  Society,  Boston  : 

DEAR  BRETHREN,  —  Your  communication  of  April  3,  in- 
forming me  of  the  election  of  Rev.  H.  I.  Cushman  as  asso- 
ciate pastor,  and  expressing  the  desire  that  my  own  relations 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  43 

to  the  parish  as  senior  pastor  may  be  permanent,  has  been 
received  and  duly  considered. 

It  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  welcome  to  the  field  of 
labor  I  have  so  long  occupied  one  whose  character,  educa- 
tion, and  consecration  through  faith,  as  I  believe,  give  so 
great  promise  of  usefulness. 

Reciprocating  in  the  fullest  measure  the  sentiments  of 
kindness  and  confidence  which  your  committee  have  ex- 
pressed to  me,  I  shall  deem  it  a  high  satisfaction  and  honor 
to  continue  in  the  senior  pastorate  as  long  as  the  general 
interests  of  our  Zion  shall  seem  to  require. 

I  am  especially  gratified,  brethren,  that  in  the  communi- 
cation referred  to  you  do  not  forget  the  interests  of  our  cause 
in  the  great  field  of  the  world.  In  tendering  you  my  con- 
gratulations on  your  honorable  record  in  endeavoring  to 
occupy  this  field  in  the  past,  I  have  the  fullest  confidence 
that  you  will  continue  to  be  a  noble  example  of  a  truly 
Christian  Church. 

With   sentiments   of  respect,    I   am   yours   in   the   faith  of 

Christ, 

A.  A.  Miner. 

This  correspondence,  be  it  remembered,  was  nearly 
a  year  after  the  removal  of  Mr.  Connor,  and  fully  a 
year  after  the  newspaper  predictions  of  ruin  to  the 
parish  from  my  six  weeks'  successful  defence  of  the 
prohibitory  law  at  the  State  House  against  ex- 
Governor  Andrew  and  the  merchants  of  Boston. 

The  installation  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cushman  took 
place  on  Wednesday  evening,  June  3,  Dr.  Miner 
preaching  the  sermon,  from  Matthew  vi.  10,  and  the 
other  parts  being  distributed  among  Rev.  Messrs. 
Russ,  Boyden,  Chambre,  Safford,  Briggs,  and  Leonard. 


44  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

The  confidence  reposed  in  Mr.  Cushman  was  in  no 
degree  misplaced.  His  high  Christian  character,  his 
generous  culture,  his  gentlemanly  bearing  and  warmth 
of  affection  won  to  him  at  once  the  love  and  esteem  of 
the  entire  parish. 

The  relations  also  between  the  two  pastors  were  of 
the  most  confidential  and  harmonious  character. 

At  the  annual  meeting  held  March  15,  1869,  a  com- 
mittee consisting  of  H.  T.  Spear,  Moses  Fairbanks, 
T.  Albert  Taylor,  James  M.  Jacobs,  and  Stephen 
Stoddard,  was  chosen  to  consider  the  expediency  of 
changing  location  and  disposing  of  the  School  Street 
property. 

April  12,  1869,  that  committee  reported  :  — 

"  It  is  apparent  to  your  committee  that,  while  not  pre- 
pared to  recommend  a  change  in  location  at  present,  the  great 
value  of  our  property,  together  with  our  limited  accommo- 
dations, particularly  in  the  vestry,  will  render  such  a  course 
advisable  sooner  or  later,  and  in  view  of  these  facts  we  re- 
spectfully recommend  that  a  lot  of  land  suitable  for  our 
purposes  be  secured." 

This  report  was  adopted,  and  another  committee 
selected  to  recommend  a  suitable  site. 

At  a  meeting  held  May  11,  1869,  the  site  at  the 
corner  of  Columbus  Avenue  and  Berkeley  and  Isa- 
bella streets  (on  which  the  Presbyterian  Church  now 
stands)  was  recommended ;  but  a  motion  to  purchase 
the  same  was  rejected,  22  yeas,  23  nays.  On  the  18th 
of  May  a  motion  to  reconsider  was  lost  by  a  vote  of 
23  yeas  to  36  nays.     This  matter  then  rested. 

The  year  1870  was  the  centennial  of  Murray's  land- 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


45 


ing  on  the  New  Jersey  coast.  It  was  made  the  occa- 
sion for  a  vigorous  financial  effort.  A  fund,  to  be 
known  as  the  Murray  Fund,  was  raised  by  our  general 
church  that  year  amounting  to  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
of  which  this  parish  donated  nearly  seven  thousand 
dollars.  The  fund  has  since  been  increased  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

Massachusetts  alone  that  year  paid  church  in- 
debtedness to  the  amount  of  sixty-five  thousand 
dollars,  and  for  buying,  building,  and  repairing 
churches  and  church  property,  two  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  dollars  more. 

On  Jan.  30,  1871,  Newton  Talbot,  A.  A.  Miner, 
Moses  Fairbanks,  J.  D.  Perkins,  T.  Albert  Taylor, 
and  James  M.  Jacobs  were  made  a  committee  to 
select  a  site  and  report. 

Feb.  27,  1 87 1,  Mr.  Talbot  for  the  committee  re- 
ported that  they  had  not  found  a  lot  at  a  price  which 
they  could  recommend  the  society  to  pay.  This  re- 
port was  accepted,  but  the  same  committee  were  au- 
thorized, under  certain  limitations  as  to  location  and 
terms  of  payment,  to  make  a  purchase.  The  result 
was  the  purchase  of  the  lot  on  which  the  Columbus 
Avenue  Church  now  stands,  and  the  parish  proceeded 
with  the  necessary  measures  for  building.  The  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  new  edifice  was  laid  Sept.  13,  1871. 
T.  J.  Sawyer,  D.  D.,  offered  the  introductory  prayer, 
Dr.  Miner  gave  the  address,  and  Mr.  Cushman  the 
concluding  prayer.  The  Rev.  L.  L.  Briggs  also  par- 
ticipated. 

On   Sunday,  May  5,   1872,  before   abandoning  the 


46  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

dear  old  church  in  School  Street,  memorial  services 
were  held,  an  excellent  historical  sermon  was  given  by 
Mr.  Cushman,  a  letter  from  the  senior  pastor,  who  was 
travelling  in  the  South,  was  read,  and  others  partici- 
pated in  the  service. 

The  society  occupied  the  new  lecture  room  Sept.  1, 
1872,  Dr.  Miner  preaching  the  sermon,  from  Ezra  vii. 
20.  The  dedication  of  the  church  took  place  Dec.  5, 
1872  ;  address  by  the  senior  pastor,  and  Rev.  Messrs. 
Cushman,  Sawyer,  Francis,  and  Vibbert  participating. 

The  cost  of  the  church  was  a  little  less  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  acoustic 
properties,  however,  proved  so  unsatisfactory  that  the 
interior  was  recast  in  1887,  at  an  expense  of  nearly 
fourteen  thousand  dollars. 

The  parish  proceeded  to  erect  a  business  block  on 
the  site  of  the  old  church,  the  fee  of  which  it  still 
holds.  A  fine  financial  outlook  was  suddenly  dark- 
ened by  the  sweeping  conflagration  of  November, 
1872.  Some  were  entirely  stripped  of  their  posses- 
sions, but  were  by  no  means  ruined. 

One  stout-hearted  and  brave  man,  whose  little  all 
had  gone  up  in  smoke,  came  with  his  wife  into  the 
lecture-room  on  Sunday  morning,  while  the  flames 
were  still  raging:-  and  took  his  seat  with  as  much  com- 
posure  and  devotion  as  though  he  had  just  come  into 
a  fortune.  A  loss  of  even  a  hundred  thousand,  aside 
from  individual  losses,  was  among  the  consequences 
to  the  society.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  gratitude 
that  the  society,  in  its  current  workings  and  as  re- 
spects its  church  edifice,  is  free  of  incumbrance  ;  and 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY 


47 


that  it  has  a  handsome  interest  in  the  School  Street 
property,  the  unexpended  income  of  which  it  is  an- 
nually funding  to  strengthen  that  interest.  Meantime 
it  has  never  failed  to  contribute  to  outside  interests 
the  full  sum  allotted  to  it  by  the  conventions,  and  for 
a  series  of  years  has  bestowed  elsewhere  on  an  average 
as  much  more  in  the  same  lines. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  March  18,  1872,  the  society, 
always  generous,  of  its  own  motion,  added  an  equal 
sum  to  the  salary  of  each  of  its  pastors,  and  at  the 
same  time  voted  to  tender  to  their  senior,  and  ear- 
nestly desire  him  to  accept,  a  release  from  all  pulpit 
and  parochial  duties  from  that  date  until  the  comple- 
tion of  the  new  church,  and  that  his  salary  be  con- 
tinued during  said  time.  The  senior  pastor  availed 
himself  of  this  opportunity  to  spend  several  months  in 
travelling  with  his  wife  in  Florida  and  other  parts  of 
the  South,  and  later,  the  College  Commencement 
passed,  among  the  hills  of  New  Hampshire. 

Early  in  the  year  1874  the  trustees  of  our  general 
convention  urgently  requested  your  senior  pastor  to 
go  out  to  San  Francisco  to  rescue  our  cause  from 
threatening  mischiefs  in  that  city  of  great  possibilities. 
He  left  Boston  February  10,  accompanied  by  his  wife, 
and  his  mission  was  attended  with  eminent  success, 
largely  through  the  most  efficient  efforts  of  that  noble 
worker,  Mr.  Ira  G.  Hoyt,  of  San  Francisco.  Disas- 
ters later  befell  the  enterprise,  which  cannot  be  here 
detailed. 

There  had  been  numerous  appeals  to  the  presi- 
dent   of    the    college    to    cut    loose    from    the   parish 


48  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UN1VERSALISTS. 

and  remove  to  the  college.  Notwithstanding  the 
valuable  aid  of  a  colleague,  the  double  relation  was 
still  onerous.  The  president  was  at  the  college  four 
and  sometimes  five  days  in  the  week,  making  his  visits 
sometimes  on  horseback,  sometimes  by  carriage,  and 
sometimes  by  rail.  Both  situations  were  desirable ; 
both  offered  large  inducements ;  both  commanded 
my  full  sympathies.  The  trustees  of  the  college  of- 
fered to  erect  for  me  a  satisfactory  residence.  But  I 
had  a  home  in  Boston  ;  I  had  grown  into  Boston  sur- 
roundings ;  my  wife  preferred  to  spend  the  remainder 
of  her  days  among  long-tried  friends  ;  I  felt  that  her 
preferences  were  as  sacred  as  my  own  ;  hence,  after 
twelve  and  a  half  years  of  service,  I  resigned  my  con- 
nection with  the  college,  and  took  up  again  full  parish 
work. 

Meantime  the  junior  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Cushman, 
accepted  a  call  to  Providence,  where  he  has  won  for 
himself  general  respect  throughout  that  city. 

Sixteen  more  busy  years  had  passed.  I  desired  to 
lay  aside  some  portion  of  my  inevitable  work.  Having 
been  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Education  since 
1869,  and  chairman  of  the  board  of  visitors  of  the 
State  Normal  Art  School  for  most  of  that  time ;  hav- 
ing been  fifty  years  in  the  very  heat  of  the  temperance 
conflict  which  does  not  even  now  promise  a  speedy 
solution  ;  having  through  all  my  ministry  occasionally 
pointed  out  the  antagonism  of  Romish  policy  to  our 
free  schools  and  free  institutions  generally;  having  be- 
come, through  the  force  of  circumstances,  the  chairman 
of  the  "  Committee  of  One  Hundred,"  and  feeling  a 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  49 

quick  sympathy  with  the  Peace  movement  and  various 
other  social  problems  of  our  time,  —  I  felt  I  should 
not  lack  for  topics  of  personal  interest  were  I  relieved 
from  the  stress  of  parochial  duties  and  of  weekly  pre- 
paration for  the  pulpit.  Though  not  forgetting  the 
desire  of  the  parish,  as  expressed  twenty-three  years 
before  (1868),  for  my  permanent  connection  with  it,  I 
was  not  willing  to  presume  at  all  upon  action  taken 
almost  a  generation  since,  and  therefore  on  the  forty- 
third  anniversary  of  my  settlement,  May  3,  1S91,  I 
proffered  outright  my  resignation. 

The  result  you  know.  You  were  pleased  to  con- 
tinue your  long-time  pastor  as  senior,  and  by  a  un- 
animous vote  in  November  of  that  Year  called  Rev. 
Stephen  H.  Roblin  to  the  office  of  pastor.  He 
promptly  accepted  your  call,  and  was  installed  in 
that  office,  Jan.  10,  1892,  the  senior  pastor  preaching 
the  sermon,  from  2  Tim.  iv.  5,  the  other  parts  being 
rendered  by  Rev.  Messrs.  Dillingham,  Biddle,  Wood- 
bridge,  and  Leonard.  A  year  has  now  passed,  and 
our  junior  pastor  has  already,  by  his  genial  qualities, 
his  excellent  pulpit  abilities,  and  his  gentlemanly 
bearing,  taken  a  high  position  both  in  the  parish  and 
in  the  city  at  large.  Moreover,  the  mutual  love  and 
confidence  between  junior  and  senior  are  everything 
that  could  be  desired. 

The  officers  of  the  societv  have  been  men  of  weight, 
and  of  high  moral  character  and  official  responsibility. 
In  1878  the  Hon.  Newton  Talbot  declined  re-election 
as  clerk,  stating  that  either  as  a  member  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  or  as  clerk,  he  had  served  the  society 

4 


50  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

ever  since  1845,  thirty-three  years,  for  the  last  seven 
years  adding  also  the  duties  of  treasurer.  His  wish 
was  respected,  and  a  warm  vote  of  thanks  was  ten- 
dered him.  Since  that,  he  has  added  fourteen  years 
more  of  service  as  chairman  of  the  Standing  Commit- 
tee and  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  School 
Street  property,  making  forty-seven  years  of  continu- 
ous official  service.  This  latter  position  he  still  holds. 
Many  others,  in  the  earlier  and  in  the  later  times,  have 
rendered  like  most  honorable  service.  Among  the 
latter  may  be  mentioned  Dr.  Guild,  Jacobs,  Ridler, 
Spear,  Simonds,  Norris,  Masury,  Johnson,  of  the  de- 
parted ;  and  Folsom,  Clinton  Viles,  A.  E.  Viles,  Wil- 
liams, Whittemore,  Fairbanks,  Forristall,  Morrison, 
Armstrong,  Parker,  Robinson,  Bicknell,  Gleason,  of 
those  still  living. 

The  church  organization  also,  which  adopted  its 
covenant  on  the  third  Sunday  in  December,  181 7, 
and  whose  seventy-fifth  anniversary,  therefore,  we  are 
more  exactly  celebrating,  has  had  a  most  honorable 
history,  and  infused  a  quickening  influence  into  all 
the  movements  of  the  parish.  It  has  received  to  its 
membership  more  than  a  thousand  persons,  very  few 
of  whom  have  ever  dishonored  their  profession. 

The  clerkship  was  filled  with  wonderful  efficiency 
many  years  by  John  M.  Lincoln,  whose  excellent  wife 
still  discharges  its  duties.  In  earlier  times  Charles 
Henderson,  Sr.,  and  in  later  times,  John  M.  Lincoln 
and  A.  C.  Masury,  many  years  each,  discharged  the 
duties  of  treasurer.  The  office  is  now  filled  by  Lewis 
H.  Wood. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  51 

Its  list  of  deacons  contains  most  honorable  names : 
Powars,  Barry,  Metcalf,  Brigham,  Wing  (son-in-law 
of  Father  Ballou),  Joseph  Lincoln*  Si\,  Edmund 
Wright,  and  Thomas  A.  Goddard,  all  of  whom  de- 
ceased before  our  entrance  into  this  church,  and  to 
whom  was  erected  yonder  memorial  window;  SafTord, 
Curtis,  Jacobs,  Ridler,  Norris,  and  Masury,  deceased 
since  we  entered  this  church  ;  and  Crocker,  Rogers, 
Potter,  A.  L.  Lincoln,  Jack,  Park,  and  Babbidge,  who 
are  still  living,  —  twenty-one  in  all. 

Various  associations  of  ladies,  especially  the  "  Miner 
Charitable  Society,"  have  done  great  service  in  many 
ways.  Presided  over  by  Mrs.  Joseph  Lincoln,  Sr., 
Mrs.  Warren  Bolles,  Mrs.  Moses  Mellen,  of  the  ear- 
lier time,  and  Mrs.  Elliott,  Mrs.  Cushman,  Mrs. 
Leonard,  Mrs.  Chubbuck,  Mrs.  H.  M.  Lincoln,  Mrs. 
Huckins,  of  the  later  time,  its  labors  have  secured 
large  measures  of  usefulness.  Efficient  were  they  also 
in  raising  the  large  amount  for  the  Murray  Fund. 

It  remains  for  me  to  speak  of  the  Sunday-school 
interest.  In  1848,  I  found  a  school  of  eighty  mem- 
bers, with  an  average  attendance  for  the  two  preced- 
ing years  of  sixty.  Holding  its  sessions  in  Murray 
Hall,  an  exceedingly  inconvenient  location,  it  never- 
theless grew  under  the  superintendence  of  Thomas 
A.  Goddard  to  the  crowding  of  its  quarters.  In  the 
new  vestry  below  the  church,  it  continued  to  increase 
until  it  numbered  between  four  and  five  hundred. 
Our  tribulations  in  1867  somewhat  diminished  our 
numbers,  and  removal  to  this  part  of  the  city  ap- 
peared to  tend  in  the   same   direction.     Our  present 


52  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

number  of  about  two  hundred  appears  to  promise  an 
increase. 

The  office  of  superintendent  has  always  been 
worthily  filled.  B.  B.  Mussey,  William  E.  Stowe, 
Col.  Isaac  H.  Wright,  (son-in-law  of  Father  Ballou), 
and  Edwin  Howland,  in  the  earlier  time  ;  and  of  the 
later  time,  Thomas  A.  Goddard,  James  D.  Perkins, 
Dr.  H.  I.  Cushman,  and  B.  B.  Whittemore  (son  of 
Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Whittemore,  and  grandson  of 
Father  Ballou),  who  is  the  present  superintendent, 
have  generally  brought  to  their  work  marked  ability, 
and  most  of  them  have  served  for  a  protracted  period. 

In  this  respect,  however,  Mr.  Goddard  led  the  whole 
list,  having  served  thirty-one  years,  including  two  years 
abroad,  during  which  he  held  the  office.  His  large 
means,  relative  freedom  from  family  cares,  and  his 
warm  sympathy  and  Christian  prayers  for  the  young, 
gave  him  an  influence  to  which  few  men  can  attain. 
Yonder  window  on  my  right,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Goddard, 
commemorates  this  service.  He  was  in  every  way  a 
tower  of  strength  to  the  parish. 

Let  it  not  for  a  moment  be  supposed,  however,  that 
in  mentioning  some  names  we  undervalue  the  great 
service  of  many  others.  All  along  the  line  of  parish, 
church,  and  Sunday-school  interests  there  have  been 
numerous  workers,  skilful,  prudent,  diligent,  and  effi- 
cient, who  would  have  been  a  high  honor  to  any  cause 
to  which  they  might  have  devoted  themselves. 

Thus  will  it  be  seen  that  the  society  has  maintained 
marked  stability  in  all  the  great  lines  of  Christian 
effort,  notwithstanding  its  large  contribution  of  mem- 


THE    OLD    SCHOOL-STREET    CHURCH. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


53 


bers  to  many  of  the  suburban  parishes.  It  has  always 
been  most  generous  and  most  considerate  towards 
its  pastors,  two  of  whom  cover  the  whole  period  of  its 
history,  and  overlap  each  other  four  years. 

The  past  is  secure.  The  blessing  of  God  has  won- 
derfully crowned  our  labors.  We  cannot  doubt  that 
like  blessings,  and  even  greater  measures  of  success, 
may  be  ours  in  the  years  to  come.  Let  the  prayer  of 
Moses  in  the  text  for  the  chosen  people,  —  "The  Lord 
God  of  your  Fathers  make  you  a  thousand  times  as 
many  more  as  ye  are,  and  bless  you,  as  he  hath  prom- 
ised you,"  —  let  this  be  the  earnest  prayer  of  your 
hearts,  and  there  shall  be  no  narrow  limits  to  your 
success.  The  same  personal  fidelity,  steadfast  resist- 
ance to  the  encroachments  of  secularism,  pure  deep 
devotion  to  things  highest  and  best,  and  prompt  and 
united  following  of  your  Christian  leaders,  may  give 
you  a  future  that  will  even  far  outshine  the  most  bril- 
liant chapters  of  the  past.  Then  will  you  have  no 
occasion  to  rebuild  fallen  walls,  but  will  enjoy  the 
honor  of  gilding  and  glorifying  the  walls  already 
builded.     The  peace  of  God  be  with  you. 


ADDRESSES. 


^^£^£<: 


1 


ADDRESSES. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

By  Rev.  STEPHEN    HERBERT    ROBLIN. 

A/TY  FRIENDS, —  In  looking  over  the  reach  of 
years  extending  to  the  inauguration  of  this 
church,  one  is  profoundly  impressed  with  the  exceed- 
ingly stirring  times  which  are  thus  covered,  with  the 
great  achievements  wrought  within  its  limits.  It  is 
not  my  intention  to  enumerate  the  striking  features 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  I  do  desire  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  facts  that  this  church  had  its  birth  and  has 
had  its  continued  life  in  the  greatest  country,  in  the 
greatest  age,  and  amid  the  greatest  movements  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  That  this  is  so  because  God 
directs  and  ordains,  I  have  no  doubt,  and  therefore 
believe  we  are  engaged  in  a  service  to-night  which 
shall  have  a  fitting  place  among  the  events  which 
mark  the  annals  of  time. 

This  church  has  a  sure  position  among  the  his- 
torical factors  of  the  century,  because  it  has  made 
history.  Its  first  pastor,  with  vigorous  mind,  un- 
daunted   courage    and   consecrated  grace,  cut  out  a 


58  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

distinct  and  wide  path  through  the  tangled  wilder- 
ness of  theological  dogma,  and  found  it  led  into  the 
open  highway  of  truth  unto  God.  His  successor, 
with  no  less  courage  and  fidelity,  and  with  consum- 
mate ability,  has  kept  that  pathway  constantly  open, 
and  by  dealing  with  educational,  political,  ethical,  and 
humane  affairs,  has  carried  the  name  of  this  church 
and  the  fame  of  this  pastorate  into  ever  widening 
circles  of  thought  and  life.  You  may  be  sure  that 
in  accepting  the  responsibility  of  this  pastorate  I  had 
many  misgivings  as  to  the  possible  continuance  of  the 
work  on  so  large  a  scale  and  high  a  plane  as  to  com- 
mand unbrokenly  the  attention  of  the  commonwealth 
and  the  nation  ;  and  after  a  year  of  constant  industry, 
I  have  yet  to  discover  a  new  field  wherein  to  plant 
the  historic  standard  and  wave  the  good  old  banners. 
If  any  conviction  is  mine  to-night,  it  is  this :  so  only 
can  we  do  by  a  renewed  emphasis  of  the  "  glorious 
gospel  "  and  a  constant  application  of  its  grace  and 
power  to  the  needs  of  mankind. 

Though  we  are  dealing  largely  with  history  to-night, 
that  which  can  be  externally  recognized  and  tabulated, 
I  am  impressed  with  the  belief  that  we  are  invited  to 
discern  the  deeper,  mightier,  and  more  abiding  veri- 
ties which  lie  beneath  all  records,  which  cannot  be 
described  by  words,  which  issue  from  the  life,  and 
love,  and  consecrated  godliness  of  the  innumerable 
hosts  who  have  found  here  the  significance  of  right- 
eousness on  earth,  and  have  obtained  confidence  of  an 
abiding  faith  in  the  eternity  of  heaven.  This  church, 
therefore,  has  found  strength  because  the  spirit  of  the 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


59 


great  Teacher  abides  here,  and  has  abode  from  the 
first  so  far  as  consistent,  prayerful,  faithful  souls  could 
command  its  presence.  The  church  represents  an 
unbroken  life  of  consecration  and  fidelity.  Though 
its  membership  has  lived  devotedly,  served  faithfully, 
and  passed  away,  still  the  new  life  coming  in  has  so 
partaken  of  the  old  life  which  has  gone  up  higher, 
that  it  has  been  continually  and  pre-eminently  Chris- 
tian. It  is  not  only,  then,  the  historical  record  of  an 
institution  seventy-five  years  old  we  commemorate, 
but  in  a  higher  and  truer  sense  the  Church  of  the 
abiding  God,  a  living  power  of  faith  and  righteous- 
ness. 

Where  so  much  has  been  achieved  and  such  fruits 
of  surpassing  value  now  appear  as  a  part  of  the  life  of 
this  sanctuary,  we  who  labor  in  its  service  may  well 
concern  ourselves  about  these  and  future  days.  How 
shall  we  so  serve  as  to  make  the  to-days  and  to-mor- 
rows as  valuable  as  the  yesterdays  ?  The  world  is 
just  as  wide,  its  needs  as  great,  God  as  powerful, 
Christ  as  helpful,  man  as  teachable  as  ever  before. 
To  have  the  tide  running  high  evermore,  we  must 
keep  the  channels  open  toward  heaven.  There  is  to 
be  no  going  backward,  I  am  sure  each  will  affirm,  and 
there  is  a  determination  to  reach  forward  and  gather 
as  many  of  the  golden  sheaves  as  God  will  permit 
an  ardent,  industrious,  faithful  band,  which  in  all  its 
desires  seeks  but  to  glean  for  His  joy  and  man's  uplift. 
Fellow-toilers,  may  we  find  a  new  consecration  at  this 
altar  to-night,  and  thus  be  able  to  go  into  the  vineyard 
on  the  morrow,  and  without  shrinking  or  tiring  labor 


60  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

for  the  greatest  ends.  Conspicuous  is  this  place; 
mighty  are  its  influences;  in  humility  but  with  valor- 
ous hearts  and  untiring  hands,  and  in  unswerving 
continuance  of  faithfulness  may  we  prove  our  desires 
by  our  works. 

Thus  briefly  have  I  outlined  the  thought  of  the 
hour,  and  these  honored  brethren  who  have  come 
at  our  bidding  will  conduct  us  into  the  fruitful 
fields  suggested,  and  from  their  own  wealth  make 
us  also  rich.  But  before  we  call  upon  them  for 
their  word  of  greeting,  encouragement,  instruction, 
let  us  approach  the  Father  of  us  all  on  the  melo- 
dious wings  of  the  favorite  of  hymns,  "  Nearer,  my 
God,  to  Thee." 


SEVENTY-FIFTH   ANNIVERSARY.  6l 

'j 

ol 
3. 
HOSEA    BALLOU. 

AN    ESTIMATE. 
By   PRESIDENT   ORELLO   CONE,    D.  D. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  a  man  who  has  exerted 
a  considerable  influence  upon  his  contemporaries  finds 
his  fairest  and  most  impartial  judges  in  succeeding 
generations.  The  mental  vision  of  those  who  have 
been  under  the  spell  of  his  personality  is  affected  by 
a  glamour  which  distorts  the  judgment  and  induces  a 
one-sided  verdict.  This  third  generation  since  Hosea 
Ballou  was  at  the  zenith  of  his  power  should,  accord- 
ingly, be  able  to  furnish  the  justest  and  most  unbiased 
judgment  of  his  character  and  work.  To  such  a  judg- 
ment, however,  it  is  manifest  that  other  conditions  are 
necessary  than  that  of  remoteness  in  time  from  the 
period  of  his  activity.  While  a  violent  prejudice  for 
or  against  a  popular  leader  must  necessarily  pervert  the 
judgment  of  a  man  even  in  the  third  generation,  the  ab- 
sence of  sympathy  with  his  work  and  aims  constitutes 
a  disqualification  in  a  judge,  whether  near  or  remote. 
It  is  equally  true  that  every  judgment  of  such  a  man 
must  be  defective  which  does  not  proceed  from  the 
historical  sense,  or  the  faculty  by  which  one  is  enabled 
to  realize  with  a  certain  vividness  and  with  keen  ap- 
preciation the  conditions  of  life  existing  in  a  past  time 
more   or   less    remote.     For  while  there  are   certain 


62  SFXOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

criteria  of  greatness  which  are  valid  in  all  times,  the 
judgment  of  a  man's  work  as  to  its  success  or  failure 
and  of  his  attainments  and  mental  equipment  must  be 
determined,  if  it  shall  be  fair,  by  due  consideration  of 
his  environment  and  opportunities.  It  is  obvious  that 
his  achievement  should  be  judged  with  reference  to 
the  difficulties  that  had  to  be  overcome  in  compassing 
it,  and  by  the  efforts  and  struggles  through  which  as  a 
champion  he  won  his  crown. 

Accordingly,  a  just  estimate  of  Hosea  Ballou  and  his 
work  must  take  its  departure  from  the  circumstances 
of  his  birth  and  early  education,  and  proceed  with  con- 
stant reference  to  his  environment.  It  is  recorded  in 
his  biography  that  he  was  born  in  1771  in  the  town 
of  Richmond,  N.  H.,  of  humble  parentage  and  among 
uncultured  surroundings.  The  opportunities  for  edu- 
cation which  Richmond  then  furnished  were  of  the 
most  meagre  kind,  and  his  parents  were  too  poor  to 
afford  him  such  privileges  of  the  schools  as  might  then 
have  been  enjoyed  in  the  centres  of  culture.  It  was  with 
the  greatest  difficulty  that  he  acquired  the  merest  rudi- 
ments of  an  English  education,  studying  by  the  light 
of  pine  knots  and  attending  school  but  a  few  months, 
and  only  after  he  was  nineteen  years  old.  His  father, 
though  a  minister,  was  not  a  man  of  liberal  education, 
and  served  his  people  as  pastor  without  stated  com- 
pensation, while  he  supported  himself  and  his  family 
by  the  labor  of  his  hands.  The  family  was  pitiably 
destitute  of  books,  and  cut  off  from  intellectual  com- 
munication with  the  world.  Reared  amid  conditions 
so  unfavorable  to  mental  development,  a  young  man 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  63 

must  evidently  possess  unusual  ability  who  rises  out 
of  them  to  the  leadership  and  eminence  attained  by 
Mr.  Ballou.  Only  rare  powers  are  capable  of  such  an 
achievement. 

Doubtless  some  credit  should  be  given  to  the  young 
Hosea's  religious  education,  if  a  bad  religion  is  better 
than  no  religion  at  all.  If  there  is  any  salutary  influ- 
ence in  the  fear  of  God,  he  had  the  full  benefit  of  it  in 
its  most  unmitigated  terrors,  and  was  surrounded  with 
the  atmosphere  of  the  sort  of  trembling,  shrinking 
worship  which  it  inspires.  It  was  his  good  fortune 
that,  though  early  deprived  of  a  mother's  care  and 
training,  he  was  reared  amid  wholesome  moral  influ- 
ences, despite  the  defective  theory  of  morals  in  which 
he  was  educated.  The  practice,  as  is  often  the  case, 
was  here  better  than  the  theory.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Divine  wrath  may  have  salutary  moral  effects  before 
the  understanding  apprehends  the  illogical  religious 
postulates  which  are  connected  with  it,  such  as  that 
while  it  is  most  of  all  things  to  be  feared,  morality  is 
no  security  against  it.  Mr.  Ballou  himself  has  forcibly 
characterized  the  moral  theory  taught  him  in  early  life 
in  these  words  :  — 

"  One  of  the  worst  things  ever  taught  to  youth  is  that  in  this 
world  there  is  more  enjoyment  in  the  ways  of  vice,  iniquity, 
and  unrighteousness  than  in  obedience  to  the  commandments 
of  God.  But  we  were  taught  at  the  same  time  that  the  wicked 
were  running  a  fearful  risk,  for  should  they  die  without  repent- 
ance their  everlasting  condemnation  was  sure.  All  the  risk 
there  was  lay  in  the  possibility  that  death  might  be  sudden, 
and  give  no  place  for  repentance.     But  the  fact  that  there  is 


64  SECOND   SOCIETY  OF   UNIVERSALISTS. 

in  the  way  of  strict  morality,  in  the  path  of  true  religion,  in 
the  road  of  righteousness,  all  the  rational  enjoyment  of  which 
our  nature  is  capable,  and  that  any  departure  from  right  is  an 
equal  departure  from  true  happiness,  was  not  taught  to  my 
knowledge  at  that  time.  Nor  did  I  ever  understand  this 
great  truth  until  taught  it  by  the  Scriptures  and  by  my  own 
experience." 

Hosea  Ballou's  father  was  a  minister  of  the  Calvin- 
istic  Baptist  Church,  and  it  was  in  this  grim  and 
relentless  theology  that  he  was  reared.  "  We  were  all 
taught,"  he  says,  "and  in  our  youth  believed,  that  we 
were  born  into  the  world  wholly  depraved,  and  under 
the  curse  of  a  law  which  doomed  every  son  and 
daughter  of  Adam  to  eternal  woe.  At  the  same  time, 
God  had  made  provision  for  a  select  number  of  the 
human  family,  whereby  they  would  be  saved  by  the 
operations  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  which  would  operate 
in  what  was  called  conversion,  some  time  during  the 
life  of  those  elected.  Those  who  were  not  elected 
would  remain  without  any  effectual  calling,  die,  and 
be  forever  miserable.  When  I  was  a  youth,  it  was  the 
sentiment  of  all  Christian  people,  as  far  as  I  knew, 
that  not  more  than  one  in  a  thousand  of  the  human 
family  would  be  saved  from  endless  condemnation." 
Horn  into  this  theological  atmosphere,  rocked  in  his 
cradle  by  Calvinism,  and  being  naturally  of  a  religious 
turn  of  mind,  it  is  not  surprising  that  at  an  early  age 
he  yielded  to  the  influences  about  him,  and  became  a 
member  of  his  father's  church.  An  ordinary  young 
man  would  have  remained  in  this  communion.  But 
Hosea     Ballou    was     not    an     ordinary   young    man. 


SL  .  IF'IH    ANNIVERSAI  65 

Thoughtful,  sincere,  conscientious,  and  fearless,  he 
not  long  in  discovering  and  openly  proclaiming 
the  moral  monstrosities,  the  logical  defects,  and  the 
spiritual  barrenness  of  the  Calvinistic  system,  and  was 
very  soon  excommunicated  from  the  church  for  hold- 
ing Universalist  opinions.  It  is  a  fine  mark  of  his 
sincerity  that  he  says,  "  I  shall  ever  remember  the  tears 
which  I  shed  on  this  solemn  occasion."  It  is  remark- 
able that  this  separation  from  the  church  in  which  he 
had  been  reared,  costing  him  both  pain  and  obloquy, 
was  apparently  brought  about  largely  by  his  own  study 
of  the  Bible,  and  the  wrestling  of  his  own  reason  with 
the  problems  presented  by  Calvinism.  As  a  sample 
of  the  inquiries  which  he  raised  may  be  instanced  the 
following  question  put  to  his  father  in  one  of  the 
many  discussions  engaged  in  with  him:  "Suppose  I 
had  the  skill  and  power  out  of  an  inanimate  substance 
to  make  an  animate,  and  should  make  one,  at  the 
same  time  knowing  that  this  creature  of  mine  would 
suffer  everlasting  misery,  would  my  act  of  creating 
this  creature  be  an  act  of  goodn<  We  are  not 

surprised  to  learn  that  this  question  "troubled"  his 
father,  and  that  it  received  no  answer.  The  only 
answer  that  Calvinism  has  ever  been  able  to  make 
to  it  is  a  warning  against  the  use  of  reason  upon 
religious  problems. 

Had  Hosea  Ballou  not  been  born  to  be  a  preacher, 
he  might  have  kept  his  new-found  faith  and  hope  to 
himself.  But  to  preach  was  his  manifest  destiny. 
Under  different  circumstances,  modesty  might  have 
dictated  silence  until  a  thorough  preparation  by  study 

5 


66  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

and  discipline  should  have  fitted  him  for  the  respon- 
sible office  of  a  public  teacher  of  religion.  But  he 
had  been  reared  amid  associations  in  which  little  was 
known  of  a  high  standard  of  intellectual  and  scholas- 
tic preparation  for  the  ministry.  It  is  not  surprising, 
then,  that  when,  according  to  his  own  statement,  he 
was  "  overpersuaded  "  by  his  friends,  his  natural  incli- 
nation should  have  prevailed  over  the  dictates  of  mod- 
esty and  his  own  better  judgment,  and  have  sent  him 
into  the  pulpit.  His  is  not  the  first  case  of  the  early 
failure  of  men  who  have  afterwards  become  oreat 
orators.  Chagrined  and  ashamed  at  his  defeat  in  his 
first  attempts  at  preaching,  the  young  man  was  not 
disheartened.  Like  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,  he 
felt  that  the  oratorical  power  "  was  in  him,  and  must 
come  out." 

In  the  autumn  of  1794  there  occurred  at  Oxford, 
Mass.,  an  event  which  was  of  great  importance  to  the 
young  Ballou,  then  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and 
to  the  cause  which  he  had  espoused.  It  was  his 
informal  ordination,  —  a  spontaneous,  prophetic  act, 
performed  by  Rev.  Elhanan  Winchester  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  meeting  of  the  New  England  Convention 
of  Universalists.  Following  this  expression  of  the 
confidence  of  his  brethren  is  a  considerable  period 
of  active  work  in  the  ministry  after  his  marriage. 
The  future  controversialist  and  orator  trains  himself 
in  the  harness  for  the  greater  tasks  which  await  him. 
That  this  was  a  period  of  study,  earnest  thought,  and 
rapid  development,  we  may  well  believe,  though  we 
have  no  precise  information  regarding  the  intellectual 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  67 

aids  that  may  have  been  within  his  reach.  It  would 
be  of  great  interest  if  we  knew  what  books  he  studied 
along  with  the  Bible  during  this  period,  and  with  what 
currents  of  thought  he  was  in  contact.  The  impor- 
tance of  the  thinking  which  he  did  during  this  time 
to  the  future  of  Universalism  is  very  great.  It  ap- 
pears that  he  was  meditating  upon  problems  of  cen- 
tral importance  in  every  system  of  Christian  theology, 
—  those  of  the  nature  of  Christ  and  his  relation  to 
salvation.  We  know  that  in  his  thinking  he  had 
reached  conclusions  regarding  Christology  and  sote- 
riology  which  were  at  variance  with  those  held  by 
Murray  and  by  his  brethren  generally.  He  stood, 
perhaps,  almost  alone  in  holding  opinions  adverse  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity,  the  vicarious  atonement, 
and  original  reprobation. 

The  results  of  the  young  Ballou's  earnest  reflection 
on  these  themes  are  embodied  in  his  most  important 
theological  work,  the  "  Treatise  on  the  Atonement." 
This  book  can  only  be  fairly  judged  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  the  author  was  only  thirty-four  years  old 
when  he  wrote  it;  that  he  had  not  enjoyed  the  advan- 
tages of  the  schools  ;  that  he  had  had  no  theological 
education  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term;  and  that 
he  was  not  a  trained  writer,  expert  in  giving  literary 
form  and  expression  to  his  thoughts.  It  is  a  more 
important  consideration,  and  one  touching  the  matter 
of  the  work,  that  the  "  Treatise  "  was  independently 
conceived  and  executed.  The  fundamental  Unitarian 
doctrines  appear  to  have  been  elaborated  by  this  soli- 
tary young  thinker  from  a  study  of  the   Bible  alone, 


68  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

and  to  some  of  them  he  gave  as  definite  and  radical 
an  expression  as  Channing  and  his  school  afterward 
attained.  In  the  sense  that  he  was  unacquainted  with 
the  writings  of  the  German  theologians,  and  had  at 
the  time  almost  no  knowledge  of  theological  literature 
in  general,  the  work  must  be  regarded  as  original ; 
and  he  must  be  accorded  the  honor  of  being  pre- 
eminently the  pioneer  in  this  line  of  thought  in 
America.  He  himself  says,  with  characteristic  mod- 
esty, in  1844:  "When  more  than  forty  years  ago  I 
wrote  my  '  Notes '  and  '  Treatise '  I  had  never  seen 
any  work  in  defence  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine 
Unity,  and  the  dependence  of  the  Son  upon  the 
Father.  When  this  circumstance  is  duly  considered, 
the  reader  will  be  satisfied  that  the  writer  must  have 
exerted  the  limited  powers  of  his  mind  to  their  utmost 
capacity;  this  is  all  the  credit  he  claims." 

It  does  not  comport  with  the  scope  of  this  paper  to 
enter  upon  an  elaborate  analysis  and  discussion  of  the 
"  Treatise."  Suffice  it  to  say  that  its  fundamental 
positions  are  that  God  was  never  unreconciled  to  man, 
and  that  hence  Christ  did  not  suffer  in  order  to  ap- 
pease the  Divine  wrath,  or  to  satisfy  the  Divine  law, 
justice,  or  righteousness.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  main- 
tained that  God's  love  for  sinners  was  the  cause  of 
Christ's  being  sent  to  reconcile  them  to  Him.  The 
absurdity  of  the  doctrine  that  God  himself  paid  the 
penalty  assumed  to  be  due  Him  from  man  by  bearing 
it  in  the  person  of  Christ,  the  second  person  of  the 
Trinity,  is  clearly  pointed  out.  It  is  taught  that  Christ 
was  a  dependent,  created   being,   and   of  course   not 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  69 

God.  While  the  reading  of  M  some  deistical  writings  " 
had,  according  to  his  own  acknowledgment,  "  no  small 
tendency  to  bring  him  over  to  the  ground  "  on  which 
he  for  many  years  "  felt  established,1'  the  working 
out  of  the  doctrines  of  the  "  Treatise  "  was  essentially 
his  own,  and  was  effected  by  an  examination  of  the 
Bible  to  determine  whether  it  did  really  "teach  that 
Jesus  Christ  died  to  reconcile  an  unchangeable  God 
to  His  own  children."  It  would  be  interesting  to  know 
whether  he  was  led  by  the  reading  of  Hume  to  take 
ground  in  the  "  Treatise  "  against  the  doctrine  of  the 
freedom  of  the  will,  or  whether  this  attitude  is  to  be 
charged  to  his  Calvinistic  education.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  in  the  case  of  a  man  of  his  originality, 
little  influence  should  be  accorded  in  the  formation 
of  his  opinions  either  to  books  or  to  his  education. 
In  his  solution  of  the  problems  of  sin  and  of  salvation 
he  reached  and  rested  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine 
Sovereignty.  He  was  a  determinist,  and  believed  that 
the  absolute  rule  of  a  good  God  must  necessarily  result 
in  the  salvation  of  all  men.  It  would  manifestly  be 
inappropriate,  in  view  of  what  has  already  been  said, 
to  judge  the  "  Treatise  "  solely  or  chiefly  according  to 
a  literary  standard.  Its  merit  lies  not  in  its  literary 
excellence,  but  in  its  clearness,  simplicity,  force,  and 
adaptedness  to  convince  the  ordinary  mind.  It  would 
be  very  unjust  to  say  that  it  is  a  great  theological 
classic,  and  to  compare  it  with  the  nearly  contempora- 
neous "  Discourses  on  Religion  "  by  Schleiermacher. 
Ballou  did  not  address,  and  could  not  successfully 
have    addressed,    such    readers   as   this   great    scholar 


JO  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

and  writer  had  before  him.  If,  however,  we  judge 
Ballou's  book  with  reference  to  its  writer's  aim,  and 
in  view  of  the  success  which  it  achieved,  we  must 
pronounce  it  a  great  work.  It  assumes  larger  pro- 
portions, and  commands  greater  admiration,  when  we 
take  into  account,  the  author's  antecedents  and  the 
circumstances  under  which  he  wrote. 

On  Dec.  15,  181 7,  occurred  the  important  event 
the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  which  this  church 
now  fittingly  celebrates.  Hosea  Ballou  was  installed 
as  pastor  of  the  School-Street  Church.  The  place 
was  prepared  for  the  man,  and  the  man  was  pre- 
eminently fitted  for  the  place.  This  was  a  great 
opportunity  for  him,  and  a  greater  opportunity  for 
Universalism  in  New  England  and  in  the  United 
States.  From  this  vantage-ground  the  eloquent  ad- 
vocate of  the  new  doctrines  of  the  Atonement,  the 
Unity  of  God,  and  Universal  Salvation,  swayed  the 
present  and  the  future.  When  he  entered  upon  this 
work  he  was  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  near  to  the 
zenith  of  his  influence.  The  next  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury constitutes  a  most  important  epoch  in  the  history 
of  Universalism.  It  was  a  controversial  epoch  ;  for  the 
leader  who  stood  in  the  School-Street  pulpit  was  pre- 
eminently a  controversialist.  His  eloquence,  boldness, 
and  fervor,  and  the  novelty  of  his  message  and  method 
gave  him  a  wide  reputation,  and  attracted  multitudes 
to  hear  him.  One  may  judge  of  the  power  of  his  per- 
sonality, and  of  the  eagerness  of  the  people  to  hear 
his  word,  when  one  considers  that  he  spoke  three 
times   each   Sunday  to  audiences   filling   the   church 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  yi 

even  to  the  crowding  of  the  aisles.  Before  he  came 
to  Boston  the  doctrines  which  he  represented  had  not 
been  widely  heard,  and  had  exerted  little  influence 
upon  contemporary  thought ;  so  that  from  the  year 
1 8 1 7  dates  the  real  rise  of  Universalism  in  New  Eng- 
land. It  was  not  alone  the  personality  of  Mr.  Ballou 
that  contributed  to  this  result ;  it  was  also  his  prodi- 
gious energy  and  tireless  activity.  He  was  more  than 
a  metropolitan  preacher;  he  was  a  pamphleteer,  editor, 
and  missionary.  "  The  Magazine "  spread  his  mes- 
sage far  and  wide,  and  he  responded  personally  to 
calls  into  near  and  remote  parts  of  the  country ;  so 
that  altogether  he  performed  the  ordinary  work  of 
two  men,  —  of  two  extraordinary  men. 

No  estimate  of  Hosea  Ballou's  work  can  be  com- 
plete that  does  not  take  into  account  the  fact  that 
one  phase  of  his  apprehension  of  Universalism  has 
not  prevailed  in  the  church  of  which  he  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  veritable  founder.  Early  in  life  he 
appears  to  have  held  the  doctrine  known  as  that  of 
"future  discipline."  That  he  abandoned  this  at  a 
later  period,  there  is  no  doubt.  Although  the  strange 
manner  in  which  he  entered  upon  a  discussion  of  this 
question  with  Mr.  Turner  —  allowing  him  to  choose 
which  side  he  would  defend  —  may  be  construed  as 
implying  an  indifference  on  his  part,  the  fact  that  he 
wrote  a  volume  of  three  hundred  pages  in  defence  of 
it  in  1834,  evidently  shows  that  he  regarded  the  sub- 
ject as  one  of  great  importance.  His  matured  opinion 
appears  to  have  been  that  sin  is  punished  when  and 
where  it  is  committed  ;  and  as  he  did  not  believe  that 


72  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

men  would  sin  in  the  life  to  come,  he  did  not  think 
that  they  would  suffer  punishment  in  that  state  of 
existence.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in  the  heat  of 
controversy  his  opinions  were  greatly  misrepresented, 
perhaps  were  grossly  caricatured.  It  should  be  re- 
marked that  when  Dr.  Channing  interpreted  his  doc- 
trine as  implying  that  "  moral  evil  is  to  be  buried  in 
the  grave,"  he  replied  that  this  had  the  appearance  of 
"  a  canting  throw  "  at  what  this  divine  was  not  dis- 
posed "  to  treat  with  his  usual  candor ; "  and  that 
when  Channing  charged  that  this  teaching  "ascribed 
to  death  the  power  of  changing  and  purifying  the 
mind,"  he  answered  that  "  he  certainly  never  heard 
any  of  us  state  such  views,  nor  had  he  ever  read  any 
such  statement  in  any  of  our  writings."  Perhaps  in 
his  interpretation  of  some  words  of  Paul  he  gave  to 
"  the  flesh  "  a  more  exclusively  physical  sense  than  the 
apostle  intended  to  convey  in  its  employment.  It  is 
probable,  too,  that  psychological  considerations,  which 
Mr.  Ballou  did  not  sufficiently  take  into  account,  have 
considerably  contributed  to  the  decadence  of  his  doc- 
trine, and  to  the  prevalence  of  the  opinion  that  men 
enter  upon  the  life  to  come  in  substantially  the  moral 
and  spiritual  condition  in  which  they  leave  this.  The 
greater  prominence  given  in  later  times  among  us  to 
man's  own  agency  in  salvation,  and  to  the  doctrine  of 
human  freedom,  has  also  been  largely  instrumental  in 
effecting  this  result.  The  liberal  and  tolerant,  the 
genial  and  kindly,  spirit  manifested  by  Mr.  Ballou  in 
the  discussion  of  this  question  cannot  be  too  highly 
commended  ;  and  the  following  words  of  his,  in  the  pre- 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


73 


face  to  the  book  referred  to,  deserve  to  be  no  less  com- 
memorated and  heeded  now  than  half  a  century  ago  : 

"  It  is  a  happy  circumstance  that  in  the  denomination  of 
Universalists  no  one  feels  bound  to  defend  and  support  the 
particular  opinions  of  another  any  further  than  he  is  himself 
convinced  of  their  truth  and  importance.  Our  platform  of 
faith  is  general,  and  allows  individuals  an  extensive  latitude 
to  think  freely,  to  investigate  minutely,  and  to  adopt  what 
particular  views  best  comport  with  the  honest  convictions  of 
the  mind,  and  fearlessly  to  avow  and  defend  the  same." 

The  judgment  of  this  generation  will  probably  agree 
with  that  of  his  own  in  finding  Hosea  Ballou's  chief 
eminence  and  distinction  in  his  powers  as  a  preacher. 
If  in  argument  he  was  strong,  in  intuition  clear,  in 
wit  quick,  in  repartee  never  at  a  loss,  and  with  the 
pen  lucid  and  convincing,  —  in  the  pulpit  he  was  mas- 
terly, luminous,  and  great.  He  was  born  to  oratory. 
Here  he  was  in  his  element ;  and  no  one  who  heard 
him  could  escape  the  spell  of  his  genius,  or  resist  the 
torrent  of  his  thought  and  passion.  An  intelligent 
hearer  of  his  has  said  :  "  Never  have  I  seen  a  man 
who  could  hold  his  hearers  so  perfectly  under  his 
control ;  they  were  entirely  at  his  command.  He 
clothed  them  in  smiles  and  melted  them  to  tears ; 
and  these  things  he  seemed  to  do  at  pleasure."  Per- 
haps the  secret  of  this  magnetic  power  lay  in  his 
transparent  sincerity,  his  childlike  simplicity,  his 
quenchless  fervor,  his  artless  earnestness,  and  his  pro- 
found conviction  of  the  truth  and  importance  of  his 
message.  These  are  the  indispensable  qualities  of 
true  oratory.  Without  them  learning,  culture,  and 
art  cannot  furnish  "  the  golden  mouth." 


74  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

A  theme  must,  however,  be  provided  for  the  man, 
and  conspire  with  him  to  produce  the  orator.  The 
orator  is  not  full  born  until  his  theme  has  touched 
and  quickened  him.  Demosthenes,  Patrick  Henry, 
and  Phillips  could  not  have  become  what  they  were 
without  the  inspiration  of  liberty.  For  Ballou  there 
was  also  provided  a  great  theme,  and  it  represented 
an  aspect  of  the  old,  eternal  struggle  for  liberty.  It 
was  the  deliverance  of  the  human  mind  from  the 
dominion  of  a  harsh,  gloomy,  and  terrible  theology. 
No  greater  and  more  inspiring  themes  were  ever  pro- 
vided for  an  orator  than  those  which  came  to  the  soul 
of  the  young  Ballou  in  his  meditations  among  the 
vales  and  hills  of  his  early  home,  —  the  themes  of  the 
Divine  Fatherhood  and  Love,  of  the  emancipation  of 
the  human  mind  from  the  bondage  of  fear  and  de- 
spair, and  of  the  salvation  of  a  world  from  sin.  In 
these  lay  the  thought  which  inspired  Jesus  in  Galilee 
when  he  discoursed  of  the  Father  in  heaven,  who  "  is 
kind  to  the  unthankful  and  the  evil,"  —  the  thought 
which  solves  the  awful  problem  of  human  pain  and 
anguish  and  sin,  sends  a  light  into  the  sombre  depths 
where  fallen  souls  grope  and  writhe  and  sigh,  and  sets 
the  star  of  hope  over  every  cradle  and  every  grave. 
When  this  thought  came  to  this  man,  his  susceptible 
nature  took  fire  and  burned  to  a  white  heat  of  glow- 
ing faith,  quenchless  zeal,  and  impassioned  speech. 
His  soul  on  fire  with  it  flamed  up  in  a  great  light, 
which  flashed  upon  the  surrounding  theologic  dark- 
ness, and  kindled,  and  has  continued  to  kindle,  other 
souls,  until  the  whole  land  is  touched  with  the  con- 
tagious illumination. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


75 


This  specialty,  in  which  his  greatest  eminence  was 
attained,  indicates  the  limitation  of  Ballou's  influence. 
It  is  given  to  few  men  to  be  great  in  more  than  one 
department  of  human  activity.  Our  colleges  confer, 
indeed,  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  but  he  is  a  very 
rare  man  who  is  master  of  one  art.  Hosea  Ballou's 
mission  was  to  the  common  people ;  and  this  mission 
he  accomplished  with  all  the  sureness,  skill,  and  mas- 
tery of  an  artist.  To  them  he  was  teacher,  leader, 
inspirer,  and  prophet.  His  appeal  to  the  common 
understanding  and  sentiment  met  with  such  a  re- 
sponse  as  it  is  given  to  few  men  to  receive.  He  was 
a  man  of  the  people,  a  spiritual  Agamemnon,  "  king 
of  men."  Of  attractive  presence,  of  great  sympathy 
and  geniality,  of  magnetic  eloquence,  the  people  heard 
him  gladly,  hung  on  his  words  with  rapture,  and  came 
away  from  his  ministry  with  shining  faces.  With  a 
master's  hand  he  struck  the  chords  of  the  common 
human  feeling,  and  awoke  the  harmonies  of  hope  and 
love.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  exigencies  of  con- 
troversy hemmed  his  thought  and  energies  within  a 
somewhat  narrow  channel.  Had  fortune  placed  him 
in  an  age  of  peace  and  construction  instead  of  in  the 
storm  and  stress  of  defence  and  a  pioneer's  mission, 
and  had  he  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  comprehen- 
sive culture  and  of  the  leisure  for  wide  meditation, 
he  might  have  delivered  a  great  message  to  a  larger 
circle  of  thinkers ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  could 
have  served  any  better  the  cause  which  he  espoused. 
This  cause  needed  the  torrent  that  he  was.  Minds 
of  a  different   type   compose   its  broader  stream.     If 


j6  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

some  of  his  interpretations  of  Scripture  were  not  such 
as  a  scientific  exegesis  can  now  approve,  they  were 
effective  in  his  time  against  opponents  whom  he  must 
meet,  if  he  would  contend  successfully  with  them, 
upon  a  common  ground.  It  would  be  manifestly 
unjust  to  him  to  compare  him  with  Lessing,  with 
Schleiermacher,  or  with  Channing,  —  to  say  that  he 
was  a  great  literary  artist,  a  learned  and  many-sided 
theologian,  or  a  spiritual  philosopher  who  could  com- 
mand the  attention  of  thinkers  throughout  Christen- 
dom. We  must  judge  him  by  the  actual  results  which 
he  achieved.  That  these  were  great  in  themselves, 
no  fair  man  will  deny;  that  they  were  admirable,  in 
view  of  the  disadvantages  and  obstacles  against  which 
he  contended,  must  be  conceded.  As  a  prophet  of 
the  Divine  Sovereignty,  Fatherhood,  and  Love,  he  was 
an  eloquent  advocate  against  whom  it  was  hazardous 
to  contend.  A  fearless  combatant,  he  attacked  Cal- 
vinism in  its  stronghold,  and  smote  it  with  blows  from 
which  it  has  never  recovered.  A  zealous  champion, 
he  established  and  defended  his  cause  by  a  masterly 
advocacy,  by  unremitting  toils,  and  by  journeys  long 
and  wearisome.  Large-hearted,  fair,  and  genial,  he 
won  the  love  of  friends,  and  commanded  the  respect 
of  foes.  A  great  and  spotless  soul,  he  well  deserves 
the  meed  of  reverence  and  of  honor  from  us  of  this 
generation,  who  have  entered  into  his  labors.  Well 
shall  we  do  and  deserve  if  we  perform  the  work  al- 
lotted to  us  with  the  zeal  and  consecration,  with  the 
courage  and  sincerity,  and  with  the  geniality  and  tol- 
eration which  distinguished  Hosea  Ballou. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


77 


POSITION   AND    INFLUENCE  OF   THE  CHURCH 
FOR   SEVENTY-FIVE  YEARS. 

By    PRESIDENT    ISAAC    M.   ATWOOD,    D.  D. 

Estimating  by  human  measures,  seventy-five  years 
is  a  long  time.  It  takes  in  the  greater  part  of  our 
own  century  and  of  our  own  national  life.  A  church 
which  has  lived  through  that  period  can  scarcely  have 
escaped  a  share  in  the  continuous  drama  of  three 
generations.  Beginning  when  James  Munroe  was  in 
the  chair,  it  has  seen  twenty-four  of  our  twenty-eight 
chief-magistrates  inaugurated.  When  this  church  was 
founded,  Boston  was  a  town  of  forty  thousand  popula- 
tion. The  railroad  and  the  telegraph  were  unknown. 
The  great  antislavery  agitation  had  not  begun.  Cal- 
vinism of  an  unmodified  and  aggressive  type  was 
preached  throughout  New  England.  The  great  Bap- 
tist and  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  bodies  were  small 
sects.  Orthodoxy,  as  the  Congregational  denomina- 
tion was  then  known,  had  just  received  what  some 
prophesied  would  prove  its  death  blow  in  the  Unita- 
rian schism.  The  country  was  yet  poor.  Four  hun- 
dred dollars  was  a  large  salary  outside  the  cities,  and 
only  a  few  favored  ministers  were  paid  one  thousand 
dollars.  Speaking  relatively,  it  was  the  day  of  small 
things. 

In  the  interval  we  have  had  two  wars,  have  abol- 
ished African  slavery,  have  grown  from  eight  to  sixty- 


j8  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

five  millions  of  people,  have  witnessed  the  miracles  of 
steam  and  of  electricity,  have  risen  from  a  fifth-rate 
to  a  first-rate  power,  have  made  for  ourselves  a  respect- 
able literature,  and  have  wrought  our  full  share  in 
the  marvellous  creation  of  modern  science.  We  have 
seen  the  earth,  which  seventy-five  years  ago  was  so 
large,  become  small,  while  the  universe  has  widened 
by  distances  then  inconceivable ;  and  we  have  watched 
Calvinism  bleach  to  a  shade  not  everywhere  distin- 
guishable from   Universalism. 

In  all  these  striking  events  and  extraordinary 
changes  this  church  has  had  some  worthy  share.  Its 
two  great  pastors,  Ballou  and  Miner,  carried  a  light 
that  could  not  be  hid.  They  have  been  men  who 
had  a  disturbing  message  to  deliver  ;  they  have  led 
an  attack.  Their  official  position  and  personal  inten- 
tion coincided  in  a  revolutionary  work ;  they  were  a 
menace  to  the  established  theological  order.  The 
world  could  not  continue  to  be  the  same  world  with 
them  in  it.  And  the  colleague  pastors  —  Soule, 
Chapin,  Connor,  Cushman,  Roblin  —  have  been  will- 
ing partners  in  the  overturning  work  of  this  pulpit. 

But  besides  and  beyond  any  record  made  for  the 
church  by  its  pastors,  the  men  and  women  of  this 
church  have  wrought  their  own  work  and  achieved 
their  own  place.  I  have  known  many  of  them,  to 
honor  and  love.  The  faces  of  some,  absent  to  sight, 
are  present  and  luminous  to-night  to  faithful  memory. 
Among  them  have  been  the  fairest  types  of  Christian 
manhood  and  womanhood  I  have  ever  known  ;  and 
taken   together  through  this  long  period,  they  have 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


79 


constituted  a  vital  body  of  believers,  sturdy  in  their 
steadfastness,  invincible  in  their  loyalty,  sound  and 
strong  in  character,  and  of  great  public  usefulness. 

A  modern  Christian  church  has  a  double  function. 

i.  It  is  an  incorporate  Christianity;  its  office  is  to 
bring  the  thought  and  life  of  Jesus  Christ  into  help- 
ful relations  with  human  society.  What  it  does, 
superficially  viewed,  is  to  provide  a  place  of  meeting, 
an  order  of  worship,  a  minister,  a  literature,  instruc- 
tion, avenues  for  social  and  charitable  activity ;  in 
short,  an  equipment  for  realizing  religion  in  the 
world.  If  that  is  all  a  church  does,  we  may  under- 
stand why  so  many  of  them  are  like  the  church  in 
Sardis,  which  had  a  name  to  live,  but  was  dead. 
What  a  true  church  does,  to  more  penetrating  view, 
is  to  supply  life  to  these  parts,  and  so  organize  them 
into  a  living  force.  Many  figures  have  been  chosen 
as  the  symbol  of  the  Church.  None  of  them  are  per- 
fectly apposite ;  but  that  of  Jesus  himself  is  most 
exact  and  suggestive.  He  is  the  vine,  the  life-foun- 
tain ;  the  churches  are  branches,  supporting  their  life 
from  that  which  would  have  no  use  without  them,  and 
without  which  they  would  not  be  alive.  So  that  the 
organism  is  seen  to  be  necessary  to  the  expression  of 
the  life  ;  but  much  more  the  life  is  essential  to  the 
organism,  for  without  the  life  the  organism  would  be 
both  dead  and  meaningless.  The  kingdom  of  Christ 
is  made  a  reality  in  human  society  not  by  life  and 
thought  alone,  diffusive  and  unorganized  ;  still  less 
by  temples,  by  orders  of  service,  by  a  preacher,  and 
by   a   complement   of   semi-religious   and   semi-social 


80  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

guilds,  but  by  an  organism  which  the  spirit  of  Christ 
has  created  for  its  expression,  and  which  it  pervades 
with  its  abundant  vitality.  This  may  be  described  as 
the  general  function  of  a  Christian  church,  in  which 
it  is  at  one  with  all  other  Christian  churches. 

2.  Another  function  which  a  church  may  fulfil, 
and  which  most  modern  churches  do  fulfil,  is  to 
embody  and  represent  an  idea ;  this  is  what  makes 
denominations.  A  church  takes  up  an  idea,  believed 
by  its  members  to  be  of  first  importance,  but  not  so 
esteemed  by  the  members  of  other  churches ;  perhaps 
it  is  rejected  and  reviled  by  them.  It  emblazons  this 
idea  upon  its  standards,  flings  it  in  the  face  of  the 
world,  and  becomes  henceforth  its  champion  and  ex- 
ponent. It  may  be  a  little  idea,  like  that  of  the  Ana- 
baptists, or  a  large  idea,  like  that  of  the  Waldenses. 
But  if  the  church  which  espouses  it  proves  faithful 
to  the  idea,  either  it  will  be  tested  and  approved,  or 
tested  and  rejected.  In  the  one  case  a  contribution  is 
made  to  the  Christian  forces;  in  the  other,  a  source  of 
illusion  and  weakness  is  at  length  eliminated. 

This  is  the  process  of  progress.  Not  by  aimless 
evolution,  but  by  choice  of  ideas  and  a  resolute  fight 
for  them,  is  the  world  moved  up  and  on.  From  much 
that  one  hears  he  would  infer  that  progress  comes, 
not  from  the  choice  of  ideas  and  the  use  made  of 
them,  but  from  an  impersonal  and  airy  conflict  among 
themselves.  Truth  is  represented  as  clutching  error; 
reason  rushes  in  and  tears  the  mask  from  superstition  ; 
science  turns  the  light  on  faith;  and  freedom  leaves 
the  field  with  the   scalps  of  all   the   tyrannies.     It  is 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  8 1 

pretty  and  poetic,  but  it  is  not  fact.  Nor  is  it  much 
nearer  the  fact  to  suppose  that  light  and  knowledge 
are  somehow  disseminated,  schools  result,  more  light 
is  shed  abroad,  men  think,  then  they  lay  aside  error, 
and  the  millennium  dawns.  The  diffusion  of  educa- 
tion means  the  choice  of  certain  ideas  as  against 
certain  other  ideas.  And  the  effect  of  this  diffusion 
is  to  lead  some  men  to  discern  and  proclaim  other 
ideas,  —  to  make  a  stand  for  them,  and  so  bring  them 
into  comparison  and  competition.  Whether  that  go 
on  peacefully  in  the  forum,  the  laboratory,  the  library, 
or  by  the  use  of  arms  on  the  field,  it  is  a  conflict. 
And  all  progress  in  our  world  involves  conflict.  For 
progress  takes  place  when  some  man  or  organization 
seizes  on  new  and  higher  ground,  and  maintains  its 
position  until  other  men  and  organizations  come  up 
to  the  same  level  ;  or  it  takes  place  when  the  ground 
thus  seized  is  proved  to  be  not  higher  nor  truer,  but 
possibly  lower  and  more  fallacious,  and  so  at  length 
is  abandoned,  not  alone  by  those  who  occupy  it,  but 
by  the  onlooking  world. 

In  1833  began  the  Oxford  movement  in  the  Church 
of  England.  A  few  men,  among  whom  Newman  and 
Pusey  and  Keble  were  leaders,  saw,  or  thought  they 
sawT,  light.  Their  common  impulse  was  to  renew  the 
religious  life  of  their  church.  Their  thought  was  that 
this  would  be  effected,  not  by  a  reformation  towards 
Protestantism,  but  by  a  reformation  towards  Catholi- 
cism. In  their  argument,  they  took  up  the  position 
that  the  Church  of  England  had  never  ceased  to  be 

an   integral    part   of   the    one    catholic   and  apostolic 

6 


82  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

Church,  and  was  still  in  fellowship  with  Rome  and 
with  Constantinople.  Otherwise,  they  contended,  it 
was  not  a  true  church  at  all,  having  no  apostolic  min- 
istry nor  grace  of  sacraments. 

Here  was  an  idea,  taken  up  by  a  group  of  learned, 
able,  and  pious  men,  set  forth  with  extraordinary  inge- 
nuity and  eloquence,  and  when  it  was  attacked,  as  it 
soon  was,  defended  with  a  skill  and  a  calmness  of 
spirit  of  which  there  are  too  few  parallels  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Christian  Church.  So  far  as  the  historical 
facts  and  the  arguments  based  on  them  were  con- 
cerned, the  movement  was  a  failure.  Newman  early 
saw  this,  as  did  Manning  a  little  later;  and  both  fol- 
lowed their  logic  into  Rome.  Competent  scholars 
of  all  schools  now  pronounce  against  the  contention 
of  the  Tractarians  ;  and  only  the  most  incorrigible  of 
themselves  hold  fast  to  it.  The  point  in  illustration 
is  that,  while  the  idea  is  not  given  up,  but  under  the 
broader  ae^is  of  Hi^h  Churchism  is  marching  on  in 
England  and  in  America,  the  historical  and  logical 
grounds  of  it  are  exploded.  Some  time  we  shall  know 
the  fate  of  the  idea  itself.  At  present  it  wins  its  way, 
apparently  either  because  it  accords  well  with  the 
caprice  of  religious  fashion,  or  because  it  meets  a  real 
religious  need  of  modern  Anglo-American  society, 
and  so  vindicates  a  measure  of  truth  at  its  heart.  It 
certainly  does  not  make  head  by  force  of  any  intel- 
lectual or  moral  appeal,  but  palpably  against  them. 
But  it  makes  headway.  We  must  discriminate,  how- 
ever, between  the  edicts  of  fashion  and  the  verdicts  of 
history. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  83 

The  idea  with  which  the  Universalist  Church  is 
identified  is  that  of  the  natural  sovereignty  of  truth 
and  righteousness  and  love.  The  supremacy  belongs 
to  them.  We  interpret  the  prophecy  we  discern  in 
the  eternal  nature  of  things,  in  the  evolution  of 
human  history,  and  particularly  in  the  person  and 
mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  mean   Universalism, — 

"  that  good  shall  fall 
At  last  —  far  off  —  at  last,  to  all. 
And  every  winter  change  to  spring." 

If  any  church  in  our  sisterhood  of  churches  can 
claim  to  have  been  from  the  first  more  intimately  con- 
cerned in  the  fortune  of  the  Universalist  idea  than 
any  other,  all  would  agree  that  this  is  the  church. 
The  prominence  of  its  first  pastor  in  the  Universalist 
movement,  the  long  period  during  which  he  was  the 
centre  of  denominational  interest,  and  the  ability  and 
loyalty  with  which  the  traditions  of  Father  Ballou's 
ministry  have  been  sustained  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the 
pews,  easily  confer  on  this  church  the  historic  pre- 
eminence, and  weight  it  with  the  responsibilities  of 
leadership. 

That  it  has  not  fulfilled  ideally  its  mission  is  to  say 
only  that  it  is  a  human  institution.  To  convict  it  of 
blunders  and  shortcomings  we  need  nothing  more  than 
the  spontaneous  testimony  of  its  pastors  and  member- 
ship. To  report  that  it  has  sometimes  failed  to  meet 
the  expectations  of  critical  brethren  who  looked  on 
from  afar,  is  but  to  recite  history.  This  is  not  an 
hour  for  the  caviller;    and  if  it  were,   I  am  not  the 


84  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

man.  I  am  too  full  of  thankfulness  and  of  the  senti- 
ment of  filial  honor  to  stand  here  and  dissect  a  record 
which  on  the  whole  and  for  so  long  a  period  reflects 
credit  on  the  Universalist  name,  vindicates  nobly  the 
Universalist  experiment,  and  embodies  effectively  the 
Universalist  spirit.  I  remember  with  gratitude  to- 
night that  this  church  has  never  lowered  the  flag, 
never  stained  the  white  of  its  banner,  nor  changed  the 
color  of  its  blue  and  its  gold.  It  has  been  a  Univer- 
salist church  throughout.  The  solidity  of  its  princi- 
ples, the  sanity  of  its  administration,  the  serenity  of  its 
spirit,  through  all  the  tempests  and  the  turnings  of  this 
three-quarters  of  a  century,  challenge  my  admiration. 
It  has  been  a  wise  church.  It  has  been  content  with 
the  best.  So  many  churches  would  trade  off  Saint 
Paul  for  Simon  Magus  it  is  a  mighty  comfort  to  have 
the  example  of  this  church  standing  out  through  the 
years  as  that  of  a  people  who,  when  the  Lord  gave  them 
a  prince,  knew  enough  to  let  him  reign.  If  I  had  not 
known  you,  my  brethren,  and  had  reasons  for  honor- 
ing you  on  account  of  what  you  are  in  yourselves,  I 
should  be  able  on  sound  principles  of  inductive  rea- 
soning to  believe  you  to  rank  among  the  sanest  and 
safest  people  in  the  world,  because  you  have  kept  on 
the  bridge-deck  of  this  flag-ship  through  forty-four 
stormy  years  our  great  admiral. 

If  it  were  required  to  enumerate  some  objective 
fruits  of  this  long  occupancy,  I  will  not  disguise  that 
the  list  is  shorter  than  I  could  wish.  It  would  be 
especially  gratifying  in  such  an  anniversary  to  count 
up  the  children  of  the  parent  church,  the  missions  fos- 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  85 

tered,  the  colonies  sent  forth,  the  ministers  educated, 
the  organic  offshoots  that,  while  maintaining  new  and 
independent  life,  feel  in  root  and  stock  the  influence 
that  centres  here.  If  we  may  not  indulge  our  pride  of 
progeny  to  any  large  extent,  we  can  recall  how  for  a 
generation  and  more  the  energies  of  this  church  were 
directed  to  the  founding  and  endowing  of  colleges  and 
schools  and  the  instituting  of  publication  interests. 
Here  originated  many  of  the  most  vigorous  educa- 
tional and  literary  plants  we  have,  and  here  were  the 
fountains  whence  steady  streams  of  irrigation  flowed 
to  them  through  long  seasons  of  desert  weather.  I 
suspect  no  record  has  been  kept,  except  in  the  books 
of  the  sleepless  angel  who  misses  no  good  deed  of 
mortals,  of  the  countless  emissaries  of  schools  and 
churches  and  missions,  and  denominational  projects 
of  various  shades  of  merit,  who  have  had  a  wrelcome  in 
this  church  and  have  borne  away  the  offerings  of  this 
long-suffering  people.  No  one  church  can  do  every- 
thing. Let  us  be  just.  And  when  we  are  we  shall 
mete  out  to  the  old  School-Street  and  the  new  Colum- 
bus-Avenue Church  a  large  award  of  merit  for  the 
steadiness  and  liberality  with  which  it  has  opened  its 
hand  and  spoken  its  blessing  to  the  manifold  enter- 
prises of  a  developing  denomination. 

It  remains  to  say  that  the  labor  of  this  church  has 
not  been  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  The  contention  which 
it  took  up  was  not  idle.  The  idea  that  God  will  have 
all  men  to  be  saved  is  not  a  transient  opinion,  having 
its  run  with  other  novelties  and  then  becoming  as 
obsolete  as  witchcraft.     It  has  proved  itself  to  be  vital 


86  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

and  perennial.  What  this  church  enlisted  for  as  a 
forlorn  hope  is  the  pet  heresy  of  the  age.  It  has  been 
shut  out  of  every  conventicle  and  warned  off  the  prem- 
ises of  every  school  of  orthodoxy.  But  it  comes  in 
everywhere  like  intrusive  daylight  and  is  as  heedless 
of  anathema  as  a  rising  sun.  Why,  the  idea  for  which 
this  church  made  a  stand  seventy-five  years  ago,  amid 
manifold  reviling,  has  made  more  headway,  in  the 
churches  and  outside  them,  than  any  other  sentiment 
or  system  which  within  the  same  period  has  appealed 
to  the  human  soul.  First  it  conquered  the  Christian 
reason;  then  it  won  the  Christian  heart;  and  now  it 
is  carrying  the  citadel  of  the  Christian  conscience. 
Do  you  say  it  is  now  a  different  doctrine  from  what  it 
was  then  ?  Well,  different  as  a  bird  is  different  from 
a  fledgling.  It  is  with  ideas  as  with  eagles.  When 
first  hatched  you  may  notice  that  parts  of  the  old  shell 
adhere  to  them,  and  they  are  awkward  and  weak.  But 
an  eagle  is  always  and  only  an  eagle.  It  never  de- 
velops into  a  turtle  or  a  giraffe.  Our  idea  has  worked 
itself  clear  of  the  shell  and  has  waxed  strong  and  lithe. 
But  its  nature  remains  unchanged.  It  is  still  the 
thought  that  God  is  good,  and  his  purpose  good,  and 
his  plan  good,  and  the  outcome  good.  To  have  stood 
up  for  that  idea  when  it  was  lonely  and  unpopular, 
and  to  have  kept  steadfast  to  it  through  the  long 
storm  of  opposition  and  obloquy  that  poured  on  its 
devoted  head,  and  to  have  held  up  loyally  the  hands 
of  its  great  defenders  until  the  storm  passed  and  days 
of  peace  and  skies  of  calm  were  granted,  and  the  awful 
roar  of  hate  had  changed  into  a  psalm  of  praise,  is 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


87 


glory  enough  for  any  church,  as  it  is  a  fortune  reserved 
for  few. 

Time,  that  either  vindicates  or  condemns  us  all,  has 
nobly  vindicated  the  choice  of  this  church.  It  might 
have  had  more  ease,  a  smoother  sail,  fanned  by  the 
soothing  zephyrs  of  fashion,  and  come  earlier  into 
port,  had  it  chosen  the  way  of  man  rather  than  the 
command  of  God.  But  it  could  not  have  the  unspeak- 
able satisfaction  and  triumph  of  this  hour  nor  the  full 
glory  which  a  later  and  juster  era  will  surely  award  to 
those  who  threw  themselves  into  this  great  conflict  at 
every  cost  and  held  on  till  victory  came,  except  by 
choosing  as  it  chose.  I  am  here  to  say,  Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant !  Thou  didst  enter  into 
partnership  with  God,  and  Truth,  and  Right,  in  a  day 
when  it  cost  a  great  price.  Thou  hast  thy  exceeding 
great  reward.  In  thy  company  are  all  they  who  have 
chosen  rather  to  suffer  reproach  for  a  precious  cause 
than  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  compliance  for  a  season. 
If  thy  children  are  as  wise  to  choose  as  were  their 
fathers,  and  as  faithful  to  execute,  and  as  patient  to 
wait,  thy  star  shall  hasten  up  the  sky,  and  the  glory 
of  the  present  be  but  a  spark  to  the  glory  that 
awaits. 


88  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 


THE   OPPORTUNITY    OF   THE   CHURCH   TO-DAY. 
By  Prof.  CHARLES  H.  LEONARD,  D.  D. 

The  place  and  the  work  of  this  church  are  deter- 
mined in  part,  in  good  degree,  it  may  be,  by  its  his- 
tory. And  yet  in  a  very  important  sense  they  are 
new,  —  as  new  as  the  place  and  work  of  the  most 
recently  planted  Christian  society  in  the  city;  for  a 
living  church  adjusts  itself  to  the  changing  demands 
of  the  times,  and  does  not  yield  to  the  imperative  that 
history  must  repeat  itself,  simply  because  it  happens 
sometimes  so  to  do. 

Of  course,  after  three  fourths  of  a  century,  it  would 
be  strange  if  there  were  not  here  a  certain  reserve  of 
intellectual  and  moral  force,  a  great  momentum,  too, 
the  growing  bequest  of  the  years,  which  is  unmis- 
takable in  its  emphasis  on  religious  ideas  and 
methods,  and,  above  all,  perhaps,  an  atmosphere, 
a  climate  in  the  life  of  the  parish,  which  has  grown 
more  and  more  productive  as  the  years  have  gone 
on.  It  is  well  to  see,  however,  that  these  things  do 
not  impose  a  rigid  intelligence,  nor  an  unchanging 
method,  nor  hold  the  church  to  a  predestined  end. 
Basis,  vigor  in  compact  life,  the  splendor  of  acquired 
facilities,  personal  power,  are  here,  but  not  inflexibility, 
nor  what  is  loosely  dignified  as  a  law  of  repetition,  as 
if  the  world  in  which  we  now  live  were  the  same  world 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  89 

which  our  fathers  knew,  and  not  a  world  the  like  of 
which  was  never  known  before. 

These  are  the  facts  of  which  we  must  make  account, 
and  take  counsel,  if  we  would  arrive  at  any  safe  con- 
clusions concerning  the  work  and  opportunity  of  this 
parish,  namely,  its  endowment  in  ideas  and  character, 
and  the  changed  condition  of  things  in  modern  social 
and  industrial  life,  by  which  we  have  brought  together, 
face  to  face,  a  more  or  less  definite  product,  in  the 
equipped  life  of  a  Christian  church,  and  the  more 
flexible  problems,  not  to  say  perils,  of  this  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century;  and  with  these  facts  in  view, 
I  shall  try  to  answer  the  question  as  to  the  work  and 
the  opportunity  of  this  particular  Christian  society. 

Looked  at  from  some  points,  and  in  view  of  some 
facts,  it  seems  as  if  this  church  had  nothing  to  do  but 
to  keep  on  in  the  work  with  which  it  started,  and  by 
which  its  career  has  been  made  illustrious ;  and  so 
perhaps  the  immediate  thought  in  this  connection  is 
that  this  pulpit  is  pledged  to  distinctive  ideas,  certain 
constructive  principles,  from  which  it  cannot  depart 
without  violence  to  the  ethics  of  history  and  the  logic 
of  character. 

I  will  refer  to  a  few  of  these  principles,  as  the  best 
way  which  occurs  to  me  of  showing  what  is  the  actual 
opportunity  of  this  church  as  a  part  of  the  great  teach- 
ing force  of  the  time  and  place.  And  first,  this  church 
has  made  free  and  confident  use  of  the  idea  of  de- 
velopment, as  displayed  in  an  orderly  method  in 
creation  and  redemption.  The  great  preacher  who 
stood   in  this  pulpit  in   the  early  years  saw  nothing 


90  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

more  clearly  than  that  things  in  creation,  and  in  the 
moral  life  of  the  world,  and  in  things  spiritual  and 
religious  are  continuous,  opening  more  and  more 
towards  one  consistent  whole.  This  is  part  of  our 
inheritance  and  birthright ;  and  what  we  of  to-day 
have  to  do,  it  seems  to  me,  is  to  invest  the  thought, 
the  idea,  the  principle,  with  sanction,  new  power,  and 
help  men  to  see  that  they  may  bring  to  its  test  their 
most  sacred  beliefs  with  respect  to  God,  and  man,  and 
destiny,  and  the  reality  and  permanence  of  all  divine 
things.  And  I  can  conceive  of  no  safer,  no  more 
effective  way  of  meeting  the  ignorance  of  violent  at- 
tack  upon  Christianity,  or  of  showing  the  futility  of 
all  attempts  to  reconcile  things  that  can  only  be  com- 
pared and  contrasted,  than  to  call  men  to  a  calmer,  a 
more  catholic,  a  more  judicial  discussion  of  this  ques- 
tion of  theistic  development,  of  theistic  evolution. 
Nor  am  I  so  sure  but  a  part  of  a  Christian  scholar's 
work  in  the  pulpit  of  to-day  may  be  the  cultivation  of 
a  more  hospitable  temper  towards  doubt ;  for  much 
that  goes  by  that  name,  and  expresses  itself  in  de- 
structive criticism,  may  leave  us  richer  than  it  found 
us  ;  just  as  men  are  said  to  have  enriched  wide  districts 
of  land  and  prepared  it  for  finer  and  ampler  growths, 
by  their  very  eager  efforts  after  a  hidden  treasure 
which  they  never  found. 

Another  principle  which  forms  a  part  of  this  soci- 
ety's inheritance  is  that  human  life  is  a  process  of 
education,  and  not  a  state  of  mere  probation.  Hosea 
Ballou's  sermons  would  be  wonderfully  instructive  and 
interesting  reading  if  turned  to  in  the  light  of  to-day, 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  91 

especially  in  their  study  and  argument  concerning 
humanity  and  its  relation  to  God.  His  favorite  anal- 
ogy, as  we  know,  was  that  of  the  family;  and  it  is  no 
wonder  that  men  were  moved  to  the  delight  of  tears 
when  they  heard  that  God  educates  his  children  as  a 
good  father  in  the  home  on  earth  trains  his  child  for 
use  and  responsibility.  Did  ever  preacher  deal  with 
things  vital  and  things  incidental  in  a  more  discrim- 
inating, convincing,  because  common-sense  way  than 
this  prophet  of  a  New  Evangel,  who  came  teaching 
that  man's  soul  must  turn  to  the  reconciling  Love  as 
some  lesser  orb  of  the  same  substance  turns  to  some 
central  attraction  ?  The  form  which  the  thought  took 
on  belonged  to  the  prevalent  philosophy,  and  would 
not  have  been  intelligible  in  any  other  phrase ;  but 
the  thought  itself  has  its  ethical  content,  and  points 
to  a  product  in  moral  and  spiritual  life  which  implies 
an  ethical  process.  And  it  seems  but  just  to  say  that 
this  is  precisely  what  this  pulpit  in  these  more  recent 
years  has  illustrated ;  for,  how  far  short  soever  it  may 
have  come  in  other  things,  its  stalwart  advocacy  of  a 
humane  theology,  or  a  theology  in  the  form  of  ethics, 
has  been  as  pre-eminent  as  it  has  been  constant  and 
effective.  And  this  very  procession  in  the  history  of 
this  educational  idea,  and  this  very  progress  in  the 
method  of  dealing  with  it,  hints  the  inevitable  oppor- 
tunity in  this  regard  for  our  day  and  for  the  awakened 
mind  of  the  present  age.  In  larger  meaning  than  the 
phrase  has  been  made  to  say,  we  want  the  old  truth  in 
new  lights.  The  thought  of  providential  education  — 
with  strong  stress  upon  the  word  "  providential  "  —  is 


92  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

fundamental  in  the  Christian  scheme.  God  is  in  his- 
tory. That  is  the  premise  and  text  of  the  modern 
Christian  preacher  in  the  face  of  a  materialistic  phi- 
losophy, whether  of  the  physical  or  idealistic  type ; 
and  so  why  may  it  not  be  a  good  part  of  his  chief 
business  to  show  men  that  they  have  something  to  do 
with  this  universe  beyond  its  arithmetic  and  its  statis- 
tics, and  that  it  is  not  the  most  comfortable  result  to 
gain  the  whole  world  to  our  positive  theories  and  lose 
one's  own  soul  ?  To  me  it  seems  a  great  opportunity 
to  speak  to  thinking,  feeling,  dying  men  and  women 
of  moral  worth,  spiritual  power,  religious  life,  as  a 
somewhat  involved  in  a  Divine  purpose  and  a  divinely 
progressive  method  ;  and  it  seems  to  me  no  mean 
prerogative  to  help  religion  get  rid  of  the  multiplica- 
tion-table and  mechanics  and  a  mere  commandment, 
and  to  invest  it  with  moral  significance,  so  that  we 
shall  see  that  it  is  no  abstraction,  nor  what  Martineau 
calls  a  charm  against  a  bad  lineage,  nor  a  protection 
against  God,  nor  a  means  of  escape  from  a  threatened 
calamity,  but  the  greatest  possible  good  to  the  human 
soul ;  and  all  this  because  man  is  taken  into  the  great 
purposes  of  history  as  that  history  is  controlled  by  a 
power  which  makes  for  righteousness,  and  informed 
by  a  love  which  forever  works  toward  completeness. 
And  so  if  I  wanted  to  move  this  people  to  a  work 
which  might  radiate  into  the  darkest  and  foulest 
places  of  this  city,  I  would  urge  it  as  a  part  of  pres- 
ent opportunity  to  put  the  emphasis  upon  the  thought 
that  life  is  a  process  of  education,  a  constant  training 
for  nobler  and  ampler  things. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH   ANNIVERSARY.  93 

But  a  third  principle,  which  all  others  suggest,  and 
to  which  in  their  action  at  any  rate  all  others  tend,  is 
the  principle  of  unity  in  the  spiritual  life.  Need  I  say 
that  the  emphasis  is  on  the  word  "spiritual,"  and  that 
I  have  in  mind  that  which  is  basis  and  motive  of 
all  other  unity,  and  that  my  thought  goes  on  to  a 
personal  being  in  whom  all  things  consist  ?  And 
therefore  it  seems  to  me  that  that  is  a  most 
helpful  philosophy  of  our  day  which  takes  in  all 
the  facts  of  matter  as  well  as  mind,  and  gets  rid  of 
dualism,  not  by  exclusion  of  this  or  that,  but  by  in- 
troducing God  as  the  living,  creative  centre  of  all 
things. 

Now,  I  think  it  will  be  conceded  that  this  truth 
is,  in  a  very  special  sense,  this  society's  inheritance. 
What  have  they  to  do  with  it  in  the  use  of  opportu- 
nity here,  in  this  year  of  grace,  in  this  city,  and  as  the 
representatives  of  a  great  cause  ?  I  suspect  that  the 
answer  which  shapes  itself  in  my  own  mind  may 
sound  as  if  I  were  taking  account  of  imagined  infer- 
ences and  consequences,  and  so  departing  from  the 
nobler  methods  of  criticism  which  always  evenly  keep 
to  the  central  fact  or  principle.  I  may  venture  to  say, 
however,  that  while  we  are  not  likely  here  to  have 
superficial,  ignorant  thrust  at  theology  as  a  proper 
subject  of  study  as  basis  for  discourse,  and  in  its  real 
definition,  as  including  the  concrete  facts  of  history 
and  the  problems  of  our  social  organism,  the  ground 
of  our  best  service  for  the  good  of  our  fellows, —  we 
may  have  from  pulpit  and  pew  the  traditional  phrases, 
if  not  the  traditional  ideas,  about  this  spiritual  unity 


94  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

as  belonging  to  or  to  be  realized  in  another  world, — ■ 
one  that  is  as  really  set  in  time  and  place  as  this  world 
is.  Why  not  conform  to  a  better  metaphysics  of  the 
faith,  and  contemplate  spiritual  unity  through  a  per- 
fected humanity  as  a  state  quite  independent  of  now 
and  then,  of  here  and  there,  and  transfer  its  scene,  not 
from  this  world  to  that,  nor  from  that  to  this,  but  from 
all  worlds  external  to  the  soul  itself,  and  fix  attention 
upon  the  truth  that  man's  spirit  does  not  get  out  of 
its  own  centre ;  that  it  is  eternally  allied  to  God, 
and  that  all  its  processes  in  thought  and  feeling  are 
indissolubly  connected  with  the  infinite  thought  and 
the  perfect  will  ?  So  far,  then,  from  having  passed 
beyond  our  opportunity,  or  from  having  allowed  our 
opportunity  to  pass  beyond  us,  it  fronts  us  to-day  as 
never  before  ;  and  as  never  before  the  call  of  the  most 
thoughtful  life  is,  not  only  to  take,  but  to  make  op- 
portunity in  an  aggressive  scholarship  and  piety,  to 
startle  the  eager  hearing  of  the  congregations  into 
new  thinking  on  new  lines  and  in  new  terms  about 
the  old  truth.  It  is  not  a  new  theology,  nor  a  new 
principle  of  life  that  we  want,  but  a  new  and  more 
inspiring  homiletics,  —  one  that  has  such  eagerness 
for  souls  that  it  will  transcend  the  formalities  of  the 
books,  and  seize  upon  life  and  the  things  of  life  and 
history,  and  by  means  of  them  bring  subjects  to  date, 
and  give  them  the  signature  and  the  address  of  a 
living  message. 

Is  this,  then,  our  opportunity,  I  hear  you  ask,  just 
to  take  our  inheritance  in  a  threefold  principle  of 
providential  order,  of  progressive  education,  of  essen- 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY. 


95 


tial  unity,  and  do  our  best  to  make  it  alive  and  con- 
structive ?  I  sincerely  think  so,  even  after  trying  to 
force  my  thoughts  for  this  occasion  into  other  chan- 
nels. If  I  have  disappointed  the  intelligent  longing 
that  is  in  the  heart  of  the  present  pastor  of  this  church, 
or  failed  to  respond  to  any  quickened  desire  of  man 
or  woman  in  the  pews  to  see  this  religious  society  in 
the  forefront  of  benevolent  activity  in  this  city,  I  can 
only  plead  that  as  often  as  the  vision  of  such  activity 
rose  up  before  me,  I  reverted  to  the  grounds  of  it,  and 
became  absorbed  with  the  truth  that  fires  souls  for 
Christian  work,  gives  them  motive  for  it  and  in  it, 
binds  them  to  sacrifice,  makes  them  ready  to  take  the 
vows  of  poverty,  and  of  single  obedience  to  Christ, 
and  hold  on  in  the  way  he  took  for  the  sake  of  the 
poor,  the  sinful,  the  sorrowing. 

I  think  I  see  what  might  result  here  from  the  ser- 
vice of  a  trained  body  of  workers  on  secular  lines 
even.  I  think  I  see  what  might  be  done  by  the 
establishment  of  neighborhood  meetings.  I  appre- 
ciate the  methods  of  the  great  English  missions  and 
guilds.  I  have  made  some  study  of  the  unique  work 
done  by  the  brotherhood  of  Saint  John  the  Evan- 
gelist, by  the  Berkeley  Street  clergy  and  laity,  by  the 
Oxford  House  abroad  and  the  Andover  House  at 
home,  and  I  join  you  and  others  in  sympathetic 
interest  in  the  new  venture  of  the  near  Shawmut 
Congregational  Church  ;  but  we  must  see  that  these 
things,  or  most  of  them  at  any  rate,  would  mean  for 
us  reorganization.  And  after  all,  the  first  step  in 
social  reform  must  be  the   conscious  organization  of 


96  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

the  intelligent  and  moral  life  of  the  people.  It  is 
easy  enough  to  have  schemes  ;  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
give  them  eyes  and  feet  and  hands.  I  do  believe 
that  a  great  deal  can  be  done  here  through  friendly 
bands,  united  to  reach  and  work  for  young  men  ; 
through  the  establishment  of  guilds,  sodalities,  clubs, 
with  the  church  as  centre.  One  of  the  most  useful 
agencies  here  would  be  a  Girls'  Friendly  Society,  to 
bind  together  in  one  ladies  as  associates  and  working- 
girls  as  members,  for  mutual  help,  both  religious  and 
secular,  to  encourage  purity  of  life,  dutifulness  to  pa- 
rents, faithfulness  to  employers,  and  thrift;  and  if  the 
psychology  of  my  address  is  correct,  or  at  all  sug- 
gestive, some  of  these  things  will  come  in  a  natural 
order ;  for  my  thought  is  that  particular  efforts  to 
reform  or  build  up  life  on  these  definite  lines  will 
result  from  the  wiser  and  more  comprehensive  hope 
of  men  and  women. 

In  one  of  the  great  galleries  of  Spanish  Seville 
hang  three  paintings  which  retell,  each  in  its  own 
way,  the  story  of  Christ  feeding  the  five  thousand. 
In  one,  the  central  idea  is  the  charity  of  Jesus ;  in 
another,  the  central  thought  is  the  hunger  of  the 
multitude  ;  in  a  third,  the  great  master  of  art  and 
interpreter  of  religion  and  life  has  so  brought  together 
the  Lord  of  help  and  the  need  of  men,  that  the  action 
of  the  one  answers  to  the  action  of  the  other,  as 
power  to  result,  and  result  to  power.  Here,  to  me,  is 
dim  sign  and  representation  of  both  sides  of  our  great 
opportunity,  —  the  famishing  life  of  the  city  at  the 
very  door  of  the  church,  and  the  church's  own  plenary 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  97 

power  in  a  fortified  intelligence  and  a  reinforced  faith  ; 
so  that,  in  regard  to  the  fewest  means  at  our  command, 
the  question  is  not,  What  are  they  among  so  many  ? 
but  How  marvellously  are  they  multiplied  for  the  sus- 
tenance of  the  world  ? 


SOCIAL   PARISH   GATHERING. 


Aged  46. 


SOCIAL   PARISH   GATHERING. 


: 


A  T  about  the  hour  of  seven  the  not  easy  task  of 
^~^  seating  the  company  began,  and  twenty  minutes 
later  Mr.  H.  D.  Williams,  master  of  ceremonies, 
called  the  company  to  order  in  a  brief  address,  as 
follows  :  — 

In  behalf  of  the  Second  Universalist  Society  I  bid  you  cor- 
dial greeting.  Welcome,  one  and  all,  to  our  festival.  Old 
friends  who  in  years  past  gave  of  your  wisdom,  your  strength, 
and  your  resources;  you  who  to-day  fill  the  pews  and  hold 
up  the  hands  of  the  pastors ;  and  ye  young,  who  to-morrow 
may  have  responsible  charge  of  affairs.  A  common  love,  a 
common  faith,  fills  all  hearts  to-night.  May  our  gathering  be 
rich  in  pleasant  and  sacred  memories,  rich  in  vows  of  con- 
tinued fidelity  to  this  old  historic  parish,  and  the  beautiful 
faith  it  upholds. 

Rev.  Dr.  Miner,  at  the  request  of  the  president, 
offered  prayer. 

The  company  were  then  urged  to  attend  to- the 
practical  duties  before  them. 

During  the  banquet,  music  was  furnished  by  an 
orchestra  from   Baldwin's  Cadet  Band. 

The  scene  in  the  lecture-room  was  a  brilliant  one. 
Eight  long  tables  filled   the   entire   space,  and  there 


102  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UXIVERSALISTS. 

were  seated  about  them  a  company  numbering  three 
hundred  and  sixty  ladies  and  gentlemen,  present  and 
former  members  of  the  society. 

It  was  a  little  after  eight  o'clock  when  the  company 
were  called  to  order  by  the  president.     He  said  :  — 

Anniversaries  like  the  present  occur  but  seldom,  and  it  is 
fitting  that  we  recognize  them  when  they  come.  Seventy- 
five  years  of  organization,  seventy-five  years  of  church  life,  is 
a  large  contribution  to  man's  advancement  and  to  the  world's 
history.  It  was  a  grand  message  the  fathers  of  our  church 
brought,  and  it  has  worked  a  mighty  change  in  religious 
thought.  In  serious  way  our  story  was  presented  to  the  pub- 
lic on  the  1 8th  of  December  last.  To-night  as  a  family  we 
gather  around  these  tables  in  a  social  way,  to  recall  the  les- 
sons of  that  day  and  to  gather  strength  and  courage  for  the 
present.  That  our  services  may  be  conducted  in  proper  form 
we  have  appointed  Hon.  A.  A.  Folsom,  one  of  our  Standing 
Committee,  toast-master,  and  when  he  rises  you  will  all  give 
close  attention  to  the  sentiments  he  will  present.  It  will 
be  my  privilege  to  call  out  the  speakers  to  respond. 

Mr.  Folsom  announced  the 

First  Toast.  Our  First  Pastor:  the  fearless  advocate  of 
God's  love  in  an  age  when  men  believed  in  God's  hate.  He 
boldly  challenged  a  narrow  and  cruel  creed,  and  proclaimed  a 
common  brotherhood  and  a  common  destiny. 

In  introducing  the  speaker,  the  president  said  :  "  Our 
parish  history  and  the  services  of  our  first  pastor  were 
ably  presented  at  our  December  meeting  by  Dr.  Miner, 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day  Dr.  Cone  gave  us 
a  scholarly  analysis  of  his  character  and  work.  There 
is,  however,  one  estimate  not  yet  presented.  We  have 
with  us  in  our  church  Hosea  Ballou's  grandson.      He 


I 


I 


m,  ■  *m 


CHURCH  ON  COLUMBUS  AVENUE. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  103 

is  familiar  with  family  records  and  private  papers,  and 
from  a  loving  mother  gathered  such  knowledge  of  the 
Grandfather's  life  and  character  as  only  a  home  can 
know.  I  have  the  pleasure  to  call  upon  B.  B.  Whit- 
temore,  Esq." 


MR.  WHITTEMORE'S   ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Friends  :  In  responding  to  the  toast, 
"The  First  Pastor  of  this  Church,"  the  brief  time  allotted  to 
me  will  compel  me  to  speak  in  graphic  terms.  I  must  there- 
fore present  to  your  consideration  Hosea  Ballou  as  the  great- 
est reformer  that  the  Christian  Church  has  known  since  the 
earliest  times. 

The  reformation  of  Martin  Luther  was  a  protest  against 
abuses  of  power  in  the  Romish  Church,  but  the  reformation 
inaugurated  by  Hosea  Ballou  was  a  complete  emancipation 
from  the  pagan  doctrines  that  had  been  held  in  the  Christian 
Church  down  to  his  day.  The  doctrines  of  the  fall  of  man 
and  of  vicarious  atonement  had  been  accepted  by  the  Church 
from  the  earlier  ages,  and  the  Universalism  of  John  Murray 
and  Elhanan  Winchester  was  only  based  on  the  universality 
of  the  atonement.  It  was  generally  conceded  that  the  Scrip- 
tures taught  these  doctrines,  and  no  one  was  found  to  ques- 
tion the  fact  until  Hosea  Ballou  in  his  unbiased  youth  was 
moved  to  look  clearly  down  into  the  Bible  and  to  discover 
that  the  old  doctrines,  against  which  his  heart  and  soul  re- 
belled, were  not  taught  in  the  Scriptures  ;  and  it  was  reserved 
for  him,  in  his  famous  "  Treatise  on  Atonement,"  published 
in  1805,  with  a  masterly  hand  to  sweep  away  the  errors  of 
Scriptural  interpretation  and  to  present  to  the  world  that 
magnificent  statement  of  Christian  theology  which  is  the 
foundation  of  the  faith  of  the  liberal  church  of  to-day  and 


104  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

the  goal  towards  which  the  evangelical  church  is  laboriously 
and  painfully  struggling. 

For  the  defence  of  his  new-found  faith  he  was  admirably 
equipped.  A  brilliant  orator,  a  diligent  student,  a  profound 
Biblical  scholar,  a  rare  logician,  and  a  master  of  incisive 
rhetoric,  he  was  a  match  for  any  foe  who  dared  meet  him, 
either  in  oral  or  written  debate.  It  has  been  the  habit  of 
some  of  his  critics  in  our  day  to  lament  the  trifling  slips  in 
language  to  be  found  in  some  of  his  earlier  writings,  as  likely 
to  prevent  his  influence  from  reaching  scholastic  quarters. 
But  I  am  happy  to  believe  that  the  fears  of  our  critics  are 
quite  groundless.  Numerous  university-bred  gentlemen  tried 
their  hand  in  controversy  with  Mr.  Ballou  while  he  was  yet 
a  mere  youth,  and  the  celerity  and  surprise  with  which  they 
dropped  him  indicated  their  appreciation  of  his  powers. 
The  manner  in  which  he  handled  the  best  of  them  will  be 
found  exceedingly  interesting  to  those  who  will  read  his 
life  and  writings. 

Mr.  Ballou  was  a  student  of  a  rare  quality,  at  all  times 
deeply  engrossed  in  the  investigation  of  some  important 
subject.  His  reading  was  varied,  careful,  patient,  and  always 
directed  to  a  definite  purpose,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  he 
developed  rhetorical  powers  that  rendered  his  later  writings 
models  of  beauty  and  conciseness.  Thus  prepared  he  spoke 
at  all  times  without  notes,  never  wandering  from  his  subject, 
but,  with  happy  illustration  and  winning  demeanor,  holding 
his  audiences,  old  and  young,  in  rapt  attention. 

Such  was  the  man  who  seventy-five  years  ago  became  the 
first  pastor  of  the  Second  Society  of  Universalists  of  the 
town  of  Boston.  Coming  to  this  society  at  the  age  of  forty- 
six  years  in  the  full  plenitude  of  his  powers,  he  brought  with 
him  a  name  and  a  fame  that  were  known  throughout  New 
England,  and  as  far  as  the  theological  and  secular  papers 
were  distributed  in  this  country.  He  was  as  deeply  beloved 
by  the  converts  to  Universalism  as  he  was  profoundly  hated 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  105 

by  the  clergy  of  the  old  churches,  who  were  already  alarmed 
at  the  effects  which  his  stalwart  blows  were  producing  on  the 
foundations  of  their  creeds.  From  the  time  of  his  coming  to 
this  society,  until  relieved  of  his  pastoral  cares  by  the  aid  of 
a  colleague,  he  devoted  himself  with  untiring  energy  to  the 
prosecution  of  the  great  work  to  which  he  was  called.  His 
matchless  eloquence  and  keen  logic  drew  multitudes  of  hear- 
ers, who  thrice  on  each  recurring  Sunday  crowded  the  old 
School  Street  Church  to  its  utmost  capacity.  As  years 
passed,  when  enabled  to  leave  his  pulpit  in  Boston,  he  was 
welcomed  in  different  parts  of  New  England,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  farther  West,  as  the  great  apostle  of 
God's  universal  grace.  Crowds  gathered  to  hear  him  wher- 
ever he  spoke,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion  in  summer 
time,  standing  in  the  window  of  a  church,  he  spoke  to  a 
larger  audience  on  the  outside,  while  addressing  the  people 
who  filled  the  auditorium  within. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  hear  my  mother's  (his  daughter's) 
description  of  him  at  the  time  of  his  coming  to  this  society. 
He  was  fully  six  feet  in  height  and  weighed  about  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  pounds.  His  eye  was  a  clear  blue,  and  his 
countenance  beamed  with  health  and  good-humor.  He  was 
a  born  orator,  devoid  of  all  violent  ranting,  and  holding  his 
audience  by  the  power  of  persuasive  eloquence.  His  logic 
was  clear,  clean,  and  fascinating.  He  had  a  keen  sense  of 
humor,  but  his  exercise  of  wit  was  characterized  by  courtesy 
and  refinement.  He  was  courageous  and  self-possessed,  be- 
coming so  by  years  of  experience  in  defence  of  the  cause 
which  he  espoused. 

It  will  not,  then,  be  thought  strange  that  this  man  should 
have  built  up  this  society  and  constituted  it,  literally,  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  Universalist  Church.  Nor  will  it  be 
thought  strange  that  his  clear  vision  should  have  discovered 
the  young  man  whom  he  believed,  of  all  others,  best  fitted 
to  receive  his  mantle  and  to  carry  on  the  great  work  inau- 


106  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

gurated  by  him,  and  who,  fulfilling  the  mission  to  which  he 
was  called,  has  continued  the  great  leader  of  the  church 
which  his  predecessor  founded,  the  shepherd  of  a  devoted 
people,  the  man  whom  all  delight  to  honor,  —  the  beloved 
senior  pastor,  whom  we  so  gladly  welcome  here  to-night. 

Second  Toast.  The  Organizations  of  the  Utiiversalist  Church, — 
Local,  State,  National  :  they  embody  and  express  the  genius  of 
our  religion,  and  invite  to  united  action  and  systematic  Christian 
work. 

"  We  are  honored  to-night,"  said  the  president, 
"with  the  presence  ot  the  president  of  our  general 
convention,  who  all  his  life  long  has  worked  for  the 
improvement  of  methods  of  church  work.  I  have 
the  pleasure  to  call  upon  Hon.  H.  B.  Metcalf,  of 
Pawtucket,  to  respond." 

The  gentleman  then  spoke  substantially  as  follows  : 


HON.  H.  B.  METCALF'S  ADDRESS. 

The  sentiment  to  which  you  have  asked  me  to  respond 
is  one  for  which  I  should  like  to  have  a  different  audience. 
The  audience  that  I  should  like  would  be  that  class  of  people 
who  are  always  wanting  most  from  the  organization  and  pour- 
ing least  into  it.  They  are  the  hardest  people  to  suit  on  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

Now  this  parish  here  —  the  old  "School-Street"  parish 
—  is  not  the  parish  for  me  to  talk  to  on  that  line.  It  does 
not  need  my  injunction  to  be  faithful  to  the  organizations  of 
the  Universalist  Church.  If  I  should  say  that  to  some  people 
they  would  say,  "  Oh,  Columbus-Avenue  Church  is  rich !  " 
But  I  knew  something  of  the  church  when  it  was  not  rich, 
and  I  am  well  informed  in  relation  to  all  those  things;  but  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Miner  sits  here,  I  do  not  mind  say- 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  107 

ing  to  you  —  you  need  not  tell  him  if  you  do  not  want  to  — 
that  his  influence  had  more  to  do  towards  developing  the 
spirit  of  organization  than  any  other  of  his  associates.  I 
always  remember  hearing  him,  when  some  application  was 
made  for  aid,  talking  with  his  brother  clergymen  about  it. 
He  said,  "  I  think  we  ought  to  help  that.  I  think  my  parish 
will  assist."  "  Yes,"  said  one,  "  you  can  do  it."  "  Yes, 
that's  exactly  it;  and  I  mean  that  they  shall  be  in  the  habit 
of  doing.".     And  this  habit  they  always  had. 

I  know,  as  I  said  before,  something  about  what  has  gone 
out  from  the  "  Old  School  Street"  Church  and  the  Columbus 
Avenue  Church;  and  if  I  refer  to  anything  which  has  been 
done  by  members  of  this  parish,  I  do  not  count  myself  in. 

That  excellent  institution,  the  Universalist  Sabbath  School 
Union,  was  conceived  by  one  who  has  been  one  of  the  most 
valued  and  active  members  of  the  church,  —  an  organiza- 
tion that  in  later  days  was  very  effective  in  strengthening 
the  denomination,  in  strengthening  and  leading  to  other 
organizations. 

I  cannot  tell  you  positively,  because  I  do  not  know,  who 
made  the  first  movement  in  behalf  of  Tufts  College.  I  have 
the  impression  that  it  was  a  member  of  the  School  Street 
Society;  but  whether  so  or  not,  Tufts  College  did  not  move 
but  a  very  short  distance  until  School  Street  Church  took 
hold  and  put  in  some  of  the  largest  contributions  that  ever 
went  in.  So  much  for  School  Street  Church  and  Tufts 
College !  That  is  an  admirable  institution  known  as  "  The 
Goddard  Seminary."  I  know  who  has  been  the  bountiful 
benefactor  of  that  interest,  —  one  of  the  grandest  men  we 
have  ever  known  in  Christian  work,  Thomas  A.  Goddard. 

There  is  another  institution,  "  Dean  Academy,"  founded 
and  established  by  a  member  of  the  old  School  Street  Uni- 
versalist Society,  Dr.  Oliver  Dean.  It  founded  the  Pub- 
lishing House.  I  hope  you  know  all  about  it;  go  there 
often,  and  buy  lots  of  books  that  they  have  for  sale.     If  you 


IOS  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

do  not,  you  make  a  great  mistake.  This  society  furnished 
the  men  who  started  and  raised  and  backed  the  money  to 
build  up  that  Publishing  House.  I  do  not  live  here  now, 
and  am  not  a  member  of  the  society  now.  If  I  was,  perhaps 
you  might  think  I  was  boasting  a  little;  but  since  I  have  left, 
I  can  talk  plainly  about  the  things  of  the  past. 

Let  us  go  on  a  little  further.  The  first  organization  that 
we  had  in  the  Universalist  Church,  outside  of  the  churches 
themselves,  that  could  be  called  an  ecclesiastical  organization, 
was  the  "  Massachusetts  Universalist  Convention."  It  had  its 
beginning  in  the  old  School  Street  Church.  Some  of  the 
people  are  here  from  that  body.  You  do  not  realize  what 
this  advantage  of  organization  is.  You  do  not  realize  how 
our  fathers  distrusted  organization.  They  had  seen  organi- 
zations interfere  with  the  liberty  of  the  people,  and  they  had 
got  prejudiced  very  much  against  organization,  and  we  had 
quite  a  little  fight  in  establishing  the  Massachusetts  Univer- 
salist Convention ;  but  the  School  Street  Church  favored  the 
project,  though  some  of  the  people  who  opposed  it  thought 
that  they  would  be  sorry  for  what  they  had  done.  The 
States  all  about  have  copied  after  our  convention,  however. 
It  was  the  forerunner  of  the  ecclesiastical  organization  of 
the  denomination.  The  General  Convention  of  Universalists 
came  into  existence  about  1870.  The  same  people  were 
there;  the  same  people  were  taking  the  leading  part;  the 
same  people  are  largely  entitled  to  the  credit.  I  do  not 
want  to  claim  all  the  credit  of  the  convention;  but  you  know 
that  the  Massachusetts  Convention  was  the  stepping-stone  to 
that  larger  organization. 

Now,  have  I  not  given  you  reasons  enough  why  I  should 
not  talk  to  you,  why  I  should  not  talk  to  this  parish,  about 
loyalty  to  church  interests?  I  wish  simply  to  congratulate 
you  that  you  have  done  so  well.  I  wish  to  say  to  the  young 
people  that  I  hope  you  will  be  true  to  what  they  have  been 
doing;  and  I  hope  you  will  make  it  as  great  a  success  as 
your  fathers  have  done. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH   ANNIVERSARY.  109 

Third  Toast.  Our  Sister  Churches :  moved  by  a  common  faith 
and  a  common  love,  may  all  be  united  in  one  great  fellowship  of 
service. 

Rev.  Charles  R.  Tenney,  pastor  of  the  Grove  Hall 
Church,  Roxbury,  was  called  upon  to  respond.  He 
spoke  as  follows  :  — 

REV.    MR.   TENNEY'S   ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies,  and  Gentlemen:  I  am  not 
quite  able  to  see  why  I  should  have  been  selected  to  respond 
to  this  sentiment;  for,  as  I  look  into  the  faces  of  the  congre- 
gation at  Grove  Hall,  I  see  a  great  many  who  have  come  out 
from  School  Street  Church ;  and  it  appears  that  the  Grove 
Hall  Society  and  Church  is  not  so  much  a  "  sister"  as  per- 
haps a  daughter  of  this  society.  I  look  again  into  the  faces 
of  the  congregation  gathered  there,  and  I  see  a  great  many 
who  are  a  generation  removed  from  the  School  Street  Soci- 
ety, whose  parents  were  here ;  and  then  it  occurs  to  me  that 
perhaps  our  relationship  is  that  of  a  granddaughter  to  the 
old  School  Street  Society;  and  yet  I  am  to-night  to  speak 
to  the  sentiment,  "  The  Sister  Churches."  I  wonder  what  is 
meant  by  that  expression,  by  the  way !  Is  it  meant  to  take 
in  merely  the  Universalist  churches?  If  so,  the  prayer  for 
their  unity  is  one  in  which  I  think  we  might  all  very  well 
join,  and  to  which  every  one  here  would  be  ready  to  respond, 
"Amen!  " 

However,  it  occurs  to  me  to  say  to  you,  that  if  we  were 
moved  by  a  common  faith,  there  would  be  no  question  but 
we  should  live  in  fellowship  one  with  another.  We  have  a 
common  faith.  There  are  beliefs  which  we  hold ;  but  are 
we  moved  by  those  beliefs  as  we  should  be?  Do  they  take 
hold  of  us?  On  the  other  hand,  are  we  not  often  shocked  to 
find  how  unmoved  we  are  in  contemplation  of  those  great 


HO  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

beliefs?  It  is  a  belief  in  the  Fatherhood  of  God;  a  belief 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world ;  a  belief  in  the 
immortality  of  the  human  soul ;  a  belief  in  the  final  victory 
of  God  over  evil.  If  we  were  really  moved  by  these  beliefs 
as  they  are  well  fitted  to  move  us,  do  you  think  there  would 
be  any  question  but  we  should  live  together  in  closest  fellow- 
ship? any  question  but  we  should  love  one  another  sincerely, 
and  be  ready  for  any  sacrifices  that  we  might  help  one  an- 
other? If  we  look  in  detail  into  these  beliefs,  I  am  sure  we 
shall  find  that  this  must  be  the  outcome.  It  is  a  belief  in 
God  the  Father.  It  is  that  upon  which  we  are  centred.  To 
be  moved  by  a  belief  in  God  the  Father,  or  feel  it  so  that  it 
moves  us  as  it  should,  all  bitterness  would  be  driven  out,  and 
our  souls  made  sweet  and  loving  like  his  in  whom  we  trust. 
I  tell  you  if  a  man  love  God,  he  will  love  his  brother  also. 
And  it  shall  be  an  evidence  that  we  are  moved  by  our  com- 
mon belief  in  the  universal  love  of  God  if  we  love  one  another 
deeply,  devotedly,  and  so  that  we  are  ready  to  make  sacri- 
fices in  a  common  cause.  This  love  of  God,  if  it  moves  us 
as  it  should,  will  extinguish  all  hate,  put  out  the  fire  of 
resentment,  and  draw  us  together  in  a  sweet  harmony.  In- 
deed, is  it  not  doing  this ;  and  as  we  are  moved  by  it  more 
and  more,  will  it  not  do  this  more  and  more  for  us? 

We  believe  in  humanity  as  represented  in  Jesus.  This  is 
one  of  our  common  beliefs.  As  we  contemplate  this  great 
ideal,  are  we  not  bound  to  be  humble?  If  a  brother  is  over- 
taken in  a  fault,  this  belief  disposes  us  to  forgive  him,  con- 
sidering ourselves  lest  we  also  be  tempted.  The  ideal  is 
very,  very  high.  Let  us  be  moved  by  the  belief  in  that 
ideal,  and  how  surely  shall  we  be  swung  close  together  as  we 
journey  on  toward  that  height. 

We  believe  in  the  triumph  of  the  right.  How  well  calcu- 
lated this  is  to  make  us  patient  with  all.  There  is  a  man, 
one  of  our  brothers,  who  falls  aside  from  the  right  path,  but 
God  still  loves  him  and  cares  for  him.     Shall  I  not  be  patient 


SEVENTY-FIFTH   ANNIVERSARY.  m 

with  him  and  love  him  also?  You  remember  the  beautiful 
story  told  of  Abraham.  He  was  sitting  at  the  door  of  his 
tent  to  welcome  strangers.  There  came  along  an  old  man 
to  the  door  of  his  tent,  —  he  was  a  hundred  years  old,  —  and 
Abraham  gave  him  welcome,  bidding  him  sit  at  meat  within 
his  tent.  You  remember  that  he  commenced  his  meal  with- 
out saying  grace,  and  Abraham  then  asked  him  if  he  did  not 
recognize  the  hand  of  God  in  those  things  which  were  pro- 
vided? And  the  old  man  said  that  he  did  not  believe  in 
a  God ;  he  believed  and  worshipped  only  the  fire.  And 
Abraham  was  angry,  and  thrust  him  out  of  his  tent,  and  sent 
him  away  into  the  dark  night.  And  God  came  and  said  to 
Abraham,  "Where  is  this  stranger?"  And  Abraham  said, 
"  I  thrust  him  out  because  he  did  not  worship  Thee."  God 
answered,  "  How  is  it?  I  have  borne  with  him  this  hundred 
years;  could  you  not  bear  with  him  one  night?"  Let  us 
believe  in  the  great  victory  which  is  to  be  over  all  evil,  in 
the  victory  of  love,  in  the  victory  of  God,  and  how  patient 
shall  we  become  with  our  fellow-men !  We  shall  be  patient 
in  the  delay  of  the  full  realization  of  those  ideals  toward 
which  we  have  set  our  faces.  How  much  might  be  said 
upon  this  great  theme. 

But  I  return  to  that  expression,  "  The  Sister  Churches." 
Is  that  to  be  confined  to  the  churches  of  the  Universalist 
faith?  And  should  our  fellowship  be  sweet  and  loving  with 
those  who  bear  our  name  alone?  No;  I  rejoice  to  say  that 
we  recognize  Christians  everywhere.  And  may  God  speed 
the  day  when,  moved  by  the  common  faith  in  Christ,  we  shall 
live  together  in  one  great  fellowship. 

I  am  grateful,  Mr.  Chairman,  for  the  honor  of  standing 
here  to  speak  to  this  sentiment,  "  Our  Sister  Churches."  I 
am  glad  to  bear  my  witness  to  the  regard  that  all  feel  for 
this  home  church.  May  God  bless  it  and  prosper  it 
abundantly. 


112  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

Fourth  Toast.  Our  Graduates :  wherever  found  may  they  be 
true  to  their  alma  mater  and  to  the  faith  she  taught  them,  —  willing 
workers  for  Universalism  everywhere. 

The  president  said :  "  When  I  first  entered  the 
School  Street  Sunday-school  I  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  a  teacher  of  a  large  Bible  class.  I  knew 
him  also  as  president  of  the  Sabbath  School  Union ; 
as  president  and  treasurer  of  the  State  convention ; 
as  president  of  the  United  States  convention  ;  as 
treasurer  of  the  Universalist  Publishing  House  ;  as 
president  of  the  trustees  of  Tufts  College.  Out  of 
this  busy  life  for  the  church  he  can  best  respond  to 
our  toast.     I  introduce  to  you  Mr.  John  D.  W.  Joy." 

After  the  prolonged  and  significant  applause  sub- 
sided, Mr.  Joy  said:  — 

MR.  JOY'S   ADDRESS. 

I  wish  I  could  express  the  gratitude  I  feel  for  the  privilege 
of  this  occasion.  As  I  look  over  this  large  company  I  see 
many  strangers,  and  yet  to-night  we  are  friends.  I  will  try 
briefly  as  best  I  may  to  speak  for  so  great  a  multitude  as 
"  the  graduates  of  the  Second  Universalist  Church  of  Bos- 
ton." I  am  reminded  that  there  are  graduates  and  gradu- 
ates in  a  church,  as  there  are  in  colleges  and  in  business  life ; 
and  I  say  to  the  young  friends  who  are  present  that  this 
should  be  borne  in  mind.  Out  of  my  experience  I  can 
easily  recall  many  men  who  have  graduated  from  college. 
One,  whose  father  told  me  that  he  went  to  college  with 
ample  means,  with  every  opportunity  to  make  his  mark  in 
the  world,  but  for  four  months  after  he  got  his  papers  did 
nothing,  and  then  began  on  the  lowest  round  in  a  woollen 
mill,  sorting  wool  at  $1.25   per  day,  and  worked  up,  until  he 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  113 

to-day  stands,  a  man  among  men,  a  full-fledged  graduate  of 
that  profession  with  a  large  compensation.  He  did  not  grad- 
uate from  the  college. 

I  know  another  man  with  large  wealth  who  told  me  himself 
that  he  went  through  college.  By  dint  of  what  is  known  to 
college  men  as  coaching,  by  aid  of  tutors,  he  finally  got  his 
papers  and  retired  on  his  wealth,  and  for  thirty  years  has 
done  nothing  but  spend  his  fortune.  I  know  of  yet  another 
who  went  into  college  with  ample  means.  He  worked  hard 
and  graduated,  and  he  is  now  one  of  the  leading  young  lawyers 
in  one  of  the  largest  States  in  this  country,  and  has  been 
honored  recently  by  a  very  high  position  in  the  government 
of  the  United  States.     There  are  many  others. 

I  look  back  thirty-five  years  when  we  were  obliged  to  sever 
our  relations  with  School  Street  Church,  and  in  coming  back 
to-day  it  seems  to  be  our  church  home.  I  look  back  to  that 
time  and  recall  the  men  and  women  who  were  my  companions 
under  the  ministrations  of  Dr.  Miner.  How  many  are  gone  ! 
I  count  it  a  great  honor  that  I  had  the  friendship  of  Father 
Ballou,  Dr.  Chapin,  and  Dr.  Miner.  They  were  eloquent 
men,  and  gave  no  uncertain  sound  on  Christianity;  and  from 
out  of  their  ministrations  and  teachings  the  men  and  women 
who  graduated  still  continue  onward,  developing  into  willing 
workers  for  the  Christian  Church.  Many  have  not  graduated 
as  Dr.  Miner  would  have  desired,  but  a  large  number  have, 
and  many  of  them  are  at  work  in  the  churches  of  other  denom- 
inations. God  bless  them  if  in  their  connections  they  are 
still  working  under  some  banner  in  the  Christian  fold,  if  not 
under  ours. 

But  those  under  our  banner  are  scattered  everywhere.  I 
have  heard  of  them  in  California,  Michigan,  Colorado,  in  Wis- 
consin, in  Iowa,  and  have  met  them  in  Maine,  in  Minnesota,  in 
Ohio,  Washington,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Vermont,  and  all 
of  the  New  England  States.  But  wherever  I  have  known 
them,  in  our  church  or  in  some  other  church,  they  were  loyal 


114  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

to  Christ  and  the  work  of  his  Church.  Many  of  these  men 
and  women  have  built  up  our  institutions  into  their  present 
prosperity.  Brother  Metcalf  has  told  you  of  them.  We  are 
proud  of  that  society  that  gave  these  men  and  women  to 
work,  who  gave  us  what  we  have,  and  have  continued  to 
work  to  make  the  church  greater  with  continued  loyalty 
to  Christianity. 

Some  say  to  me,  "  Oh !  you  want  to  make  Universalists." 
Certainly  I  do.  I  want  to  make  Universalists  because  I  be- 
lieve a  true  Universalist  is  the  highest  type  of  a  Christian. 
But  if  I  cannot  do  that  I  would  like  to  have  them  Christians 
any  way.  And  so  I  have  tried  during  my  life  to  honor  my 
alma  mater  and  to  do  my  church  work  in  the  way  that  a  busi- 
ness man  has  to,  leaving  the  result  with  that  God  whom  I 
learned  in  the  Universalist  Church  to  love,  reverence,  and 
trust. 

God  bless  you,  one  and  all.  I  wish  that  I  could  speak 
better  than  I  have  for  the  large  company  of  graduates; 
but  you  have  my  good  wishes. 

Fifth  Toast.  ■  The  Present  our  Opportunity.  Inheritors  of  a 
great  past,  and  believers  in  a  great  future,  we  realize  that  the 
work  of  our  parish  lies  in  the  present.  By  united  effort  may  we 
make  our  church  a  centre  of  light  and  of  power. 

Said  President  Williams  :  "  The  drift  of  our  ser- 
vices in  December  was  largely  to  the  past,  and  the  first 
address  to-night,  which  we  listened  to  with  pleasure, 
supplements  and  completes  the  record.  For  the  bal- 
ance of  the  evening  we  propose  to  examine  the  present 
and  take  a  look  ahead,  — '  a  look  forward  and  not 
back,  up  and  not  down.'  Honorable  as  has  been  our 
record  it  is  possible  for  us  to  win  greater  and  better 
success.     If  the  antagonisms  of  the  past  had  advan- 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  115 

tages  for  the  development  of  a  sturdy  church,  it  is  no 
less  true  that  in  the  favorable  attitude  of  the  world 
about  us  to-day  Universalists  have  a  better  opportu- 
nity for  useful  work,  —  a  more  favorable  position  for 
influencing  religious  thought. 

"  Our  senior  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Miner,  will  respond." 
The  rising  of  Dr.  Miner  was  the  signal  of  a  demon- 
stration which  here  needs  no  interpretation.     As  soon 
as  returning  quiet  prevailed,  he  in  substance  said  :  — 

DR.  MINER'S   ADDRESS. 

I  gratefully  thank  you,  my  friends,  for  this  kind  reception. 
I  cannot,  in  the  few  moments  I  am  at  liberty  to  occupy,  do 
justice  to  the  subject  to  which  I  am  called.  I  can  hardly 
express  to  you  my  feelings  in  this  hour.  In  1837,  having 
four  months  previously  preached  my  first  sermon,  I  met  for 
the  first  time  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou  in  Walpole,  N.  H.,  and  by 
some  strange  circumstance,  known  to  him  and  not  to  me,  I 
was  invited  to  enter  the  desk  with  him  and  conduct  the  open- 
ing services  on  the  closing  of  a  convention.  That  sermon 
was  a  powerful  one,  and  is  daguerreotyped  upon  my  memory, 
and  I  wish  I  might  repeat  it  to  you.  I  think  I  never  gave  you 
so  good  a  sermon ;   and  I  could  repeat  it,  but  I  must  not. 

Fifty-six  years,  come  June,  have  passed  since  that  date, — 
fifty-six  years,  forty-four  of  which  I  have  spent  with  you  in 
this  and  in  the  School  Street  Church.  Am  I  not  speaking 
to  you  as  to  my  children  and  grandchildren?  I  could  not  tell 
you  how  my  heart  has  been  tried  again  and  again  as  I  have 
seen  families  leave,  called  away  by  business  or  otherwise  to 
some  parish  outside  our  limits.  What  the  mobility  of  the 
people  of  a  great  city  is,  only  those  who  have  observed  it  can 
know.  At  the  height  of  the  greatest  prosperity  of  our  Sun- 
day-school in  School  Street  Church  about  one  hundred  went 


Il6  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UX1VERSALISTS. 

out  every  year  and  another  hundred  came  in,  and  that  was 
but  an  indication  of  the  changes  going  on  in  the  parish  itself. 
One  of  our  excellent  brothers  who  spoke  to  us  on  the  evening 
of  December  18  regretted  that  we  had  no  more  children  to 
show.  Bless  his  soul !  He  does  not  "  know  how  it  is  himself." 
He  has  not  been  here  to  watch  the  operation.  What  mat- 
ters it  whether  we  go  out  and  plant  a  parish,  or  pour  streams 
of  influence  into  other  parishes,  and,  as  Brother  Joy  has  said, 
into  remote  sections  of  the  country?  I  have  travelled  some- 
what in  the  United  States  and  beyond,  and  at  every  point  I 
have  come  across  those  who  stand  up  and  say:  "  Dr.  Miner, 
I  have  attended  your  church ;  "  or,  "  You  married  me." 
And  when  I  tell  you  I  have  joined  nearly  three  thousand 
couples  in  the  solemn  bonds  of  matrimony,  —  not  so  solemn 
as  holy,  I  hope  [laughter],  —  you  may  have  some  indication 
of  what  our  lines  of  action  have  been.  And  so,  friends,  I 
have  known  many  people.  It  delights  my  heart  to  meet  so 
many  here  who  have  formerly  been  connected  with  us.  I  am 
glad  to  feel  that  there  are  sympathies  in  your  hearts  which 
called  you  here  to-night  to  testify  your  regard  for  this  old 
parish. 

You  ask  me  to  speak  of  the  present  and  future.  Our 
opportunities  are  everlasting.  As  man  is  always  redeem- 
able, so  there  are  always  opportunities  for  winning  men 
and  women  to  Christ.  You  will  not  think  me  trespassing 
on  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion  when  I  say  that  genera- 
tion after  generation  of  this  parish,  whether  in  School  Street 
Church  or  in  this,  —  of  those  who  have  departed  and  of  those 
who  remain,  —  during  the  forty-four  years  I  have  been  with 
you  have  remained  faithful  and  active  in  Christian  work.  If 
they  have  not  touched  high-water  mark,  that  is  the  achieve- 
ment which  remains  for  us.  It  is  the  respect  I  bear  for 
the  men  and  women  of  these  forty-four  years  that  leads  me 
to  cherish  unbounded  confidence  in  the  years  which  shall 
come. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH   ANNIVERSARY.  117 

New  administrations  fall  into  new  hands.  But  they  are 
skilful  hands.  They  are  men  who  understand  business,  who 
know  how  to  manage  affairs  and  hold  the  helm  of  the  church 
as  they  would  hold  the  helm  of  a  ship,  with  a  steady  hand, 
knowing  the  course  they  are  sailing.  Hence,  I  have  un- 
bounded confidence  in  the  administration  of  the  church  in 
time  to  come.  This  being  the  character  of  the  people,  their 
opportunity  is  ripe.  They  have  full  opportunity  for  good 
Christian  work. 

But,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  have  but  a  moderate  idea  of 
what  is  possible  to  us  through  individual  work.  Do  not  think 
of  the  pulpit  alone;  think  of  individual  efforts.  If:  is  a  great 
field  which  lies  before  us;  and  although  I  see  the  difficulties, 
there  are  vast  possibilities  for  us  through  individual  work. 
We  have  not  had  so  much  of  this  as  we  might  have  had. 
Great  as  our  work  has  been,  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  the  day 
when  every  man  and  woman  in  the  congregation  shall  make 
all  not  engaged  in  Christian  work  feel  that  they  are  robbing 
this  community,  robbing  society  at  large,  and  robbing  them- 
selves of  the  greatest  influence  for  good. 

Let  me  say  further:  We  talk  about  strengthening  and  en- 
larging the  church  and  making  it  more  and  more  useful.  An 
organization  is  worth  just  what  it  will  do.  A  church  exists, 
not  for  its  own  sake,  —  it  is  the  means  whereby  the  worship- 
pers combine  their  strength  for  work.  Something  of  this  work 
has  been  done  during  the  seventy-five  years  of  our  history.  I 
trust  more  will  be  done  in  the  years  that  shall  come. 

We  are  celebrating  our  seventy-fifth  anniversary.  We  are 
also  celebrating  the  first  anniversary  of  the  junior  pastor. 
[Great  applause.]  I  had  but  slight  opportunities  for  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  him  before  he  was  invited  by  you  to 
become  your  pastor.  Those  few  opportunities  had  endeared 
him  as  strongly  to  my  heart  as  I  could  expect.  The  year, 
however,  he  has  been  with  us  has  greatly  strengthened  my 
affection  for  him,  and  I  feel  at  liberty  to  say  that  the  junior 


Il8  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF  UNIVERSALISTS. 

and  senior  pastors  are  indissolubly  bound  together.  I  am 
glad  to  behold  evidence  that  he  has  made  a  warm  place  in 
all  your  hearts.  [Applause.]  He  has  a  right  to  look  to  you 
for  help.  Let  no  one  say:  "I  am  too  wearied  from  my 
week's  work,"  or,  "  I  was  out  late  Saturday  night,"  or  any 
other  frivolous  saying,  as  an  excuse  for  absenting  himself 
from  church,  and  then  think  to  balance  the  account  by  say- 
ing, "  I  send  my  children  to  the  Sunday-school!  "  Let  me 
tell  you  that  this  example  of  neglect  nullifies  absolutely  what- 
ever effect  ,for  good  the  Sunday-school  can  have  for  those 
children.  The  parental  example  is  worth  more  than  the 
teaching  of  the  Sunday-school.  Oh!  the  degeneracy  of 
these  times  in  that  respect !  Even  the  venerable  Hosea 
Ballou  gave  the  people  warning  that  the  Sunday-school 
should  not  be  permitted  to  supplant  public  worship.  Let 
every  parent  and  every  guardian  resolve  that  his  children 
shall  not  only  be  in  the  Sunday-school  but  in  the  church  as 
well.  It  will  not  hurt  them.  If  they  are  feeble,  cushion  the 
seats.  If  they  cannot  sit  up,  coddle  them.  Bring  them  up 
in  the  dignity  and  solemnity  of  public  worship. 

But  I  must  call  your  attention  to  the  opportunities  before 
us.  When  I  came  to  Boston  forty-four  years  ago,  it  was  not 
understood  that  any  pulpit  in  Boston  outside  the  circle  of 
Universalist  churches  preached  the  doctrine  of  universal  sal- 
vation. Dr.  George  E.  Ellis  wrote  a  "  History  of  a  Half- 
Century  of  Unitarianism,"  in  which  he  did  not  even  know 
that  there  was  such  a  body  as  the  Universalist  Church !  But 
where  are  we  now?  Now  the  Unitarians  claim  to  be  the 
original  preachers  of  all  liberal  doctrine.  Now  a  broad 
suggestion  of  Universalism  runs  through  the  ranks  of  our 
popular  religious  bodies,  and  has  the  familiar  names  of  Dr. 
Briggs,  Dr.  Smith,  Dr.  Clark,  Dr.  Egbert  Smyth,  our  late 
noble  bishop,  and  many  another  known  as  of  the  "  New 
Orthodoxy,"  known  and  felt  of  all  men  to  be  Universalists 
in  sentiment  and  in  heart. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  ng 

Only  a  little  time  since  I  attended  the  dedication  of  Dr. 
Herrick's  new  church  —  a  beautiful  structure  near  Harvard 
Bridge.  I  listened  to  a  sermon  from  Rev.  George  A.  Gordon, 
—  as  open  a  Universalist  sermon  as  I  ever  preached  myself. 
At  the  close  of  the  service,  —  I  was  there  by  invitation,  so 
that  I  felt  at  liberty  to  make  myself  at  home,  —  I  came  to 
Mrs.  Gordon,  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Manning,  and  her 
mother,  Mrs.  Manning,  and  shaking  hands  with  them  I  said, 
"  Is  this  preacher  from  whom  we  have  heard  this  sermon  to- 
night deemed  to  be  a  fitting  successor  to  Dr.  Manning  ?  " 
"  Exactly,"  said  Mrs.  Manning.  These  pulpits  are  evidently 
with  us.  I  am  sorry  that  they  still  march  under  other  ban- 
ners, but  harmony  will  be  reached,  though  very  slowly. 
These  people  are  coming  to  a  very  wonderful  extent  into 
sympathy  with  Universalism,  and  the  names  will  at  length 
fall  away.  They  will  enter  into  broader  relationships  with  us. 
Even  now  they  show  in  many  ways  their  sympathy.  I  grant 
you  that  the  liberality  of  these  sects  is  a  barrier  to  our  organic 
growth  as  a  church ;  but  looking  in  another  direction  it  is  a 
help.  We  can  address  any  audience  wherever  gathered,  and 
are  listened  to  without  reserve.  If  we  chance  to  indicate  our 
grasp  of  thought  and  breadth  of  hope,  it  is  not  deemed  an 
offence,  but  very  likely  the  applause  will  come  in  at  that 
point.     This  is  favorable. 

We  have  an  active,  faithful,  vigorous,  clear-headed  pastor, 
who  loves  to  work,  and  whose  work  will  tell  in  all  this  com- 
munity. Allow  me  to  thank  you  for  my  own  and  his  sake 
and  for  the  sake  of  the  responsible  members  of  the  parish 
to-day.  I  thank  you  for  this  joyful  occasion.  I  cannot  tell 
you  how  heartily  I  have  enjoyed  it.  I  shall  lay  down  my 
work  with  joy  whenever  the  end  shall  come.  I  think,  if  I 
know  myself,  I  hold  myself  fairly  prepared  for  the  summons 
whenever  it  may  come.  I  do  not  think  that  I  have  been 
wanting  in  an  endeavor  to  know  the  truth  or  to  present  the 
application  of  it  to  the  needs  of  society,  and  I  shrink  not  from 
the  application  of  that  truth  to  myself.     [Great  applause.] 


120  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

Sixth  Toast.  Our  Young  Men  and  Young  Wo?nen  :  they  are 
the  hope  of  the  Church.  To  their  wisdom,  fidelity,  and  enthu- 
siasm we  must  confide  its  future. 

The  president  said  :  "  The  Sunday-school  has  always 
been  a  cherished  part  of  the  parish,  and  it  has  ever 
been  the  wish  of  pastor  and  people  to  receive  the 
graduates  of  the  Sunday-school  into  the  associations  of 
the  church  and  into  all  active  parish  work.  Our  young 
pastor  has  naturally  a  sympathy  with  young  people, 
and  if  I  judge  the  signs  of  the  times  correctly  our 
young  people  are  in  sympathy  with  him.  Increase  of 
the  Sunday-school,  gains  in  young  people's  meetings, 
and  the  success  of  the  Fortnightly  Club,  are  hopeful 
signs. 

"  I  ask  Mr.  Albert  A.  Gleason,  a  member  of  the 
Sunday-school  and  president  of  the  Fortnightly  Club, 
to  respond  to  the  toast." 


MR.  GLEASON'S   ADDRESS. 

The  toast  which  Mr.  Williams  has  given  me  is  a  most 
beautiful  one;  and  as  I  came  up  here  to-night  I  wished  I 
had  the  brillancy  of  a  Choate  or  the  grandeur  of  a  Webster 
in  order  that  I  might  do  justice  to  it.  The  word  "  fidelity,"  — 
think  of  it.  It  means  adherence  to  principle,  to  country,  to 
this  church,  and  upholding  it  in  its  work. 

I  am  going  to  take  for  my  text  this  evening  the  third  stanza 
and  fourth  verse  of  the  following  lines :  — 

"  If  older  boys  can  make  a  speech, 
The  little  boys  can,  too  ; 
And  though  we  may  not  say  so  much, 
Yet  we  've  a  word  for  you. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  121 

"  This  world  is  large  and  full  of  room ; 
There  is  a  place  for  all,  — 
The  rich,  the  poor,  the  wise,  the  good, 
The  large,  as  well  as  small. 

"  So  give  the  little  ones  a  chance 
To  show  off  what  they  know ; 
And  shun  us  not  because  we  're  small, 
For  little  boys  will  grow." 

My  text,  then,  is,  "  Little  boys  will  grow."  As  we  look 
forward  into  the  future,  it  becomes  us  to  take  some  notice  of 
the  young  men  and  their  development.  To-day  they  are 
free;  to-morrow  their  responsibilities  may  come.  The  old 
saying  is  that  "  Children  should  be  seen  and  not  heard." 
To  this,  exception  may  well  be  taken ;  for  in  all  good  fields 
and  all  good  works  they  may  be  both  seen  and  heard  with 
advantage  to  themselves  and  the  cause  they  love.  Surely,  in 
the  Sunday-school  and  the  church  they  should  be  at  home. 
There  they  should  early  become  interested  and  active  ;  so 
that  when  the  proper  time  comes  they  may  take  up  the 
work  and  add  strength  to  this  church  and  to  all  its  various 
organizations.      [Applause.] 

But  as  I  have  but  ten  minutes  to  talk,  the  first  organization 
to  which  I  would  call  your  attention  is  the  Young  People's 
Christian  Union.  Charles  Sumner  said:  "Young  men,  you 
should  adopt  a  trade,  or  a  profession,  or  a  business-calling, 
thereby  making  yourselves  independent  by  earning  a  com- 
petency; but  you  should  go  further,  and  ally  yourselves 
to  some  righteous  or  unpopular  cause,  and  work  for  its 
successful  solution."  I  suggest,  for  your  consideration, 
that  the  cause  which  this  Young  People's  Christian  Union 
has  served  is  of  that  sort.  Calls  have  come  to  them  from 
outside.  They  have  responded  bravely;  they  are  helpers 
in  this  church.  Many  a  time  when  a  feeble  society  of 
Universalist  faith  has  needed  help,  gladly,  strongly,  and 
speedily  have   they  come   to  its  aid;    they  possess    fidelity. 


122  SECOND    SOCIETY   OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

This  church  is  bound  to  succeed   when    the    young    people 
show  such  a  spirit. 

The  next  organization  to  which  I  would  call  your  attention 
is  the  Altar  Club.  I  never  think  of  the  Altar  Club  but  I  am 
reminded  of  these  few  lines  of  Lowell :  — 

"  Whether  we  look,  or  whether  we  listen, 
We  hear  life  murmur,  or  see  it  glisten ; 

Every  clod  feels  a  stir  of  might, 
An  instinct  within  it  that  reaches  and  towers, 

And  groping  blindly  above  it  for  light, 
Climbs  to  a  soul  in  grass  and  flowers." 

The  Altar  Club  have  done  a  wonderful  good.  You  remem- 
ber that  poem  of  Gray's  :  — 

"  Full  many  a  gem  of  purest  ray  serene, 

The  deep,  unfathomed  caves  of  ocean  bear. 
Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

The  young  ladies  of  the  Altar  have  prevented  flowers  from 
dying  unseen.  They  have  brought  them  to  you.  They  have 
decorated  the  pulpit,  and,  instead  of  leaving  them  outside, 
have  brought  them  face  to  face  with  you,  and  made  the 
pulpit  a  pleasure  for  you  and  a  great  attraction  to  strangers. 
Recently  this  little  society  held  a  fair,  and  we  all  know  how 
pleasant  and  how  successful  it  was. 

Another  organization  is  the  Fortnightly  Club.  I  will  not 
praise,  but  leave  you  to  judge  of  the  club's  success.  The 
club  was  born  just  one  year  ago  lacking  a  week.  Let  me 
here  tell  you  the  circumstances.  About  one  year  ago  I  was 
invited  to  one  of  the  church  sociables  in  this  lecture-room, 
and  was  seated  over  there  by  that  standing-lamp,  when  Mr. 
Roblin  leaned  forward  and  beckoned.  I  went  over,  and  he 
said,  "  Mr.  Gleason,  I  find  we  have  no  literary  club  here."  I 
was  almost  as  much  of  a  stranger  as  he,  but  he  said,  "  Will 
you  help  us?  "     I  said,  "  I  will  do  all  I  can."     Since  then  we 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  123 

have  all  worked  together,  and  you  know  of  the  success  of  the 
Fortnightly.  Do  you  know  what  our  aim  is  in  that  club? 
As  I  look  over  this  country,  I  think  I  see  a  lack  of  patriot- 
ism. Is  it  not  a  good  idea  for  the  young  people  to  gather 
themselves  into  clubs  whereby  their  loyalty,  their  fidelity, 
may  be  increased  to  church,  State,  home,  country  ?  Just 
think  of  Mr.  Whittier  as  an  example  of  fidelity.  Where  can 
you  find  in  the  history,  not  only  of  this  country,  but  of  this 
world,  a  better  man  as  an  example  to  follow.  There  is 
fidelity  in  a  concrete  form,  from  one  end  of  his  life  to  the 
other,  —  nothing  impure.  And  let  me  tell  you  that  it  seems 
to  me  that  a  church  without  a  literary  club  is  like  a  ship 
without  a  sail.  A  literary  club  adds  so  much  to  the  intel- 
lectual  development. 

As  a  young  man  interested  in  this  society,  I  feel  that  this 
society  and  church  are  growing,  and  will  continue  to  grow. 
We  have  an  able,  a  vigorous,  a  courageous  leader.  He  came 
here  from  the  West;  he  is  going  to  enthuse  us  with  his 
enthusiasm.  We  must  carry  this  work  on.  This  society 
should  be  the  leader  of  churches  in  the  city  of  Boston,  the 
leader  of  the  Universalist  churches  throughout  this  State;  it 
must  be  the  leading  Universalist  church  in  the  United  States. 
[Applause.] 

In  1884  Mr.  Lowell  uttered  these  words:  — 

"  New  occasions  teach  new  duties,  time  makes  ancient  good  jncouth. 
They  must  upward  still  and  onward  who  would  keep  abreast  of  truth. 
Lo !  before  us  gleam  her  camp-fires,  we  ourselves  must  pilgrims  be,  — 
Launch  our  Mayflower  and  steer  boldly  through  the  desperate  winter 

sea, 
Nor  attempt  the  Future's  portal  with  the  Past's  blood-rusted  key." 

My  young  friends,  now  is  the  time  for  us  to  "  launch  our 
Mayflower  and  sail  through  the  winter  sea;"  if  we  would 
keep  onward  and  upward,  we  must  keep  abreast  of  truth. 
And  we  have  a  leader  who  will  conduct  us.  We  have  a 
leader  in  Mr.   Roblin.      [Applause.] 


124  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

Seventh  Toast.  Pastor  and  People  :  a  relation  which  involves 
mutual  obligations.  If  the  one  is  to  teach  and  to  lead,  the  other 
ought  surely  to  be  sympathetic  and  receptive.  Only  when  both 
work  together  can  growth  and  success  be  secured. 

The  president  said  :  "  To-night's  celebration  may 
well  be  considered  the  first  anniversary  of  the  settle- 
ment of  our  pastor;  for  it  was  in  January,  1892,  that 
he  was  installed.  He  came  not  as  assistant,  not  as 
colleague,  but  as  full  pastor,  with  all  the  care  and 
responsibility  that  this  relation  implies ;  and  this  with 
the  full  endorsement  and  cordial  sanction  of  his  pre- 
decessor and  senior.  He  came  from  his  Western 
home  to  a  strange  people  and  a  strange  city.  He 
found  us,  I  fear,  reserved,  undemonstrative,  accus- 
tomed to  old  ruts.  He  found  our  crooked  streets  a 
perplexing  labyrinth  ;  but  somehow,  with  his  cheerful 
ways,  his  earnest  words,  his  hopeful  bearing,  his 
courageous  travels,  he  has  found  his  way  to  our 
hearts  and  our  homes.  I  hope  he  has  come  to  feel 
at  home  in  old  Boston,  and  that  he  finds  encourage- 
ment in  his  work.  I  call  upon  the  Rev.  S.  H.  Roblin, 
our  pastor,  to  respond."     [Great  applause.] 

REV.    MR.    ROBLIN'S   ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President  and  Friends:  I  cannot  but  feel  proud 
over  the  achievements  of  this  occasion.  It  has  been  so  bright 
and  conspicuously  successful  that  one  has  to  pause  in  very 
thankfulness  and  gratitude  for  what  each  and  all  have  done 
to  make  this  night  so  full  of  satisfaction  and  delight.  The 
greetings  have  been  so  cordial,  the  music  so  pleasing,  and 
the  material  viands  so  satisfying,  that  good  cheer  has  reached 
the  most  impervious.     Our  speakers,  most  graciously  intro- 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  125 

duced  by  chairman  and  toast-master,  have  risen  to  their  best, 
and  delighted  our  minds  and  warmed  our  hearts. 

I  am  not  unaware  of  the  difficulty  before  me  as  I  attempt 
to  interest  you  a  moment.  I  am  conscious  of  the  truth  of 
the  adage,  "  Enough  is  as  good  as  a  feast."  We  have  had 
just  enough,  and  to  add  a  word  more  is  risky  business.  But 
I  have  been  called  to  the  floor,  and  in  obedience  to  the  com- 
mand I  cannot  but  attempt  a  word  or  two;  but  in  doing  so  I 
may  also  illustrate  the  "power  of  habit."  This  "power"  is 
very  constant  in  its  working.  A  short  time  since  a  Boston 
reporter  was  standing  before  a  minister  with  his  bride.  In 
the  midst  of  the  ceremony  he  whipped  out  his  note-book  to 
get  the  address  of  the  officiating  clergyman.  This  "  power" 
is  apt  to  get  hold  of  a  minister  when  he  stands  up  to  talk; 
and  now  that  I  am  well  under  way,  it  is  probable  I  shall  for- 
get my  promise  of  a  ten-minute  speech,  and  preach  you  a  bit 
of  a  sermon  an  hour  long.      [Laughter.] 

But  just  here  I  am  reminded  that  the  hour  is  so  late,  and 
my  time  so  limited,  that  I  cannot  trespass  to  say  what  I 
intended,  and  therefore  am  at  a  loss  what  to  say,  —  some- 
thing like  the  man  who  went  to  a  drug-store  and  forgot  his 
errand.  When  the  clerk  inquired  his  wishes,  the  man  re- 
plied, "  I  've  forgotten  just  what  I  came  for,  but  give  me 
something  like  it."  My  limitations  will  not  permit  me  to 
say  what  I  wished,  but  I  shall  try  to  say  something  like  it. 
[Laughter.] 

In  my  introduction  to  you  I  find  so  many  flattering  things 
that  I  am  bewildered,  not  knowing  just  how  to  respond.  I 
think  it  best  to  cut  loose  entirely,  and  look  upon  the  future. 
The  pilot  must  look  ahead  if  he  would  avoid  reefs,  collisions, 
breakers.  The  shepherd  must  look  ahead  if  he  would  keep 
his  lambs  from  harm,  and  secure  for  them  a  fold  safe  and 
warm,  a  shield  from  danger,  cold,  and  storm.  So  a  pastor 
must  look  ahead  if  he  would  lead  his  people  into  the  ways  of 
the  everlasting  life ;   he  must  look  ahead  if  he  would  guide 


126  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

them  to  the  succulent  grasses  of  the  meadows  of  God.  I 
recall  the  answer  which  Jimmy  gave  his  teacher,  who  in- 
quired the  natural  product  of  the  Malay  Peninsula.  "  Mala- 
ria," said  Jimmy.  Such  might  easier  be  the  natural  product 
of  the  Malay  Peninsula  than  that  Christianity  should  be  the 
natural  outcome  of  a  Christian  church  whose  pastor  did  not 
look  ahead.      [Applause  and  laughter.] 

I  am  sure,  dear  friends,  that  we  shall  only  compass  the 
best  work  in  the  valley  below  by  often  looking  to  the  heights 
beyond.  It  is  true,  as  our  chairman  has  said,  "The  minister 
cannot  do  this  for  all."  There  must  be  a  mutual  looking  and 
a  mutual  doing.  Of  course,  I  am  ready  to  say  that  very 
much  depends  on  the  minister.  There  is  so  much  respon- 
siveness to  whatever  I  say  or  do  here,  that  I  feel  if  much  is 
not  accomplished  the  fault  will  be  largely  mine.  The  past  is 
secure;  it  is  rich  with  good  works  and  good  fruits.  Our  late 
and  early  hours  ought  now  to  be  filled  with  a  mighty  con- 
cern that  we  who  stand  upon  the  summits  of  the  past  shall 
do  better  and  better  still.  So  can  we  do  by  pledging  our 
mutual  effort  to  the  doing  of  our  best.  I  shall  try  to  do  my 
part  by  wisely  learning  the  lessons  of  every  day.  One  lesson 
I  learned  early  in  my  ministry,  —  and  trust  I  shall  never  for- 
get it, —  that  is  to  say  the  word  and  have  done ;  preach  the 
message  and  stop.  That  was  a  good  criticism  a  Scotch 
peasant  made  on  the  sermon  of  a  great  preacher.  "  Yes, 
yes,"  said  he,  "  a  goodish  sermon;  but  it  would  hae  done  us 
mair  good  had  it  been  clipped  short  at  both  ends  and  set 
afire  in  the  middle."  I  am  trying  to  profit  by  this  to-night; 
I  have  clipped  both  ends  of  my  speech,  and  am  now  trying 
to  burn  the  middle.  [Laughter.]  Certainly,  the  preacher 
who  wisely  looks  ahead  will  not  preach  wearisome  sermons, 
but  will  strive  by  mighty  unction  and  pungent  thought  to 
deliver  his  word  and  fill  his  church. 

I  feel  that  I  ought  to  say,  too,  that  a  people  looking  ahead 
a  little  will  certainly  be  less  likely  to  criticise  in  a  bad  sense. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  127 

They  shall  be  able  then  to  see  that  a  tremendous  work  is  to 
be  accomplished  in  this  world ;  that  time,  patience,  energy, 
life,  are  to  be  given  in  the  great  service.  They  shall  thus 
see  the  necessity  of  magnifying  the  good  in  each  effort;  for 
there  is  need  of  each  and  of  his  contribution  of  service,  that 
the  great  work  be  done.  All  will  be  thus  more  true  to  them- 
selves as  well  as  more  just  to  others.  A  man  much  given  to 
repetitious  prayer  was  always  wont  to  say  about  the  middle 
of  the  lengthening  process,  "  Lord,  help  me  to  pray."  One 
night,  as  this  familiar  portion  of  the  oft-repeated  petition  fell 
upon  the  ears  of  a  long-suffering  neighbor,  he  shouted  back 
in  stentorian  tones,  "  The  Lord  help  you  to  give  over !  " 
whereupon  the  petitioner  meekly  exclaimed,  "  I  was  about 
to  ask  for  richest  blessings  for  you."  If  brother  number  two 
could  have  foreseen  a  little,  he  would  have  been  tolerant 
toward  the  prayer.     [Applause.] 

One  more  word,  and  I  am  done.  I  wish  to  make  a  plea 
for  the  gospel  of  noise.  Do  not  be  discouraged  at  a  little 
commotion.  All  the  great  factors  of  the  universe  let  them- 
selves be  heard  when  they  are  aroused.  The  wind  roars,  the 
ocean  thunders,  the  great  city  hums,  —  they  are  all  disciples 
of  sound.  Even  the  shell  placed  at  the  ear  duplicates  the 
surging  of  the  tides  on  the  extended  beach,  and  reveals  that 
the  life-blood  which  seems  to  circulate  so  silently  through 
our  bodies  has  also  its  voice  to  be  heard.  We  are  making 
sound  here  to-night,  joyful  and  constant.  In  the  right  sense, 
I  desire  this  to  be  the  noisiest  church  in  this  city,  State,  and 
nation,  or  even  in  the  large  world.  "  The  Lord  is  not  deaf," 
said  a  preacher  to  a  brother  laboring  in  prayer;  "can  you 
not  pray  a  little  more  quietly?  Remember  that  the  great 
temple  at  Jerusalem  was  built  without  the  sound  of  a  tool 
being  heard."  "  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  we  are  not  build- 
ing temples;  we  are  blasting  bowlders."  There  are  bowlders 
ahead  of  us  still.  It  is  our  business,  even  in  these  days,  to 
charge  them  with  the  dynamite  of  God's  righteousness,  and 


128  SECOND    SOCIETY    OF    UNIVERSALISTS. 

scatter  them  to  the  four  parts  of  the  earth,  that  we  may  not 
so  much  build  a  temple  as  to  open  a  way  for  all  the  children 
of  the  Father  to  pass  along  to  the  hills  of  righteousness  unto 
the  heights  of  God.      [Prolonged  applause.] 

Before  the  reading  of  the  last  toast,  announcement 
was  made  that  Rev.  Henry  I.  Cushman,  D.D.,  of 
Providence,  once  associate  pastor,  had  been  unable 
to  accept  an  invitation  to  be  present  and  speak,  and 
that  letters  of  regret  had  been  received  from  Rev.  T. 
J.  Sawyer,  D.D.,  and  from  Rev.  Charles  Leonard, 
D.D.,  Dean  of  Tufts  College. 

The  President  had  also  a  sympathetic  note  from  a 
loved  and  valued  member  of  the  church,  Mrs.  Mary  T. 
Goddard.     Mrs.  Goddard's  letter  is  as  follows  :  — 

Dear  Sir,  —  Here  in  the  quiet  of  my  home  I  have  been 
much  interested  in  all  that  has  been  done  so  far  to  cele- 
brate the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Second  Universalist 
Society,  —  the  old  School  Street  Church,  as  I  still  love  to 
think  of  it,  because  so  many  delightful  associations  and  pre- 
cious memories  cluster  around  that  name  for  me.  Times  of 
depression  come  before  me,  when  it  seemed  as  if  the  wishes 
and  prayers  of  opponents  were  to  be  answered  in  our  down- 
fall;  times  of  regeneration,  when  the  ringing  tones  and  elo- 
quent words  of  Dr.  E.  H.  Chapin,  of  blessed  memory,  seemed 
to  call  in  hearers  from  the  very  street.  Then  the  steady  climb- 
ing upward  under  the  long  ministration  of  the  beloved  pastor, 
Dr.  Miner,  unto  the  present,  when  the  Second  Society  stands 
as  a  tower  of  strength  amid  all  the  other  societies  which  have 
grown  up  around  it,  and  as  a  beacon-light  for  our  church, 
which  has  enlarged  its  borders  on  every  hand,  and  is  spread- 
ing far  and  wide  the  joyful  doctrines  of  the  eternal  triumph 
of  good  over  evil. 


SEVENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY.  129 

Now,  I  cannot  be  with  you  on  the  25th;  I  can  only  tell 
you  how  my  heart  rejoices  at  all  the  work  done,  and  all  the 
words  said,  in  this  church  whose  anniversary  you  celebrate. 
I  pray,  and  will  pray,  for  its  continued  prosperity.  May  the 
light  it  is  shedding  far  and  wide  gain  even  greater  brilliancy. 
Peace  be  upon  all  within  its  gates,  and  the  very  spirit  of 
Christ  enter  every  heart  and  soul  belonging  to  it. 
With  esteem  and  affection, 

Mary  T.  Goddard. 

Newton,  January  4. 

The  exercises  of  the  evening  had  added  interest 
and  enjoyment  in  the  presence  of  the  choir,  who 
most  kindly  lent  their  aid, —  Miss  Elizabeth  Hamlin, 
soprano,  Miss  Emma  Rice,  contralto,  and  Mr.  Endi- 
cott,  tenor,  singing  finely  in  solo  and  duet.  The 
length  of  the  speeches  made  it  necessary  to  cut  off  a 
part  of  the  musical  programme,  much  to  the  regret  of 
the  company. 

At  a  quarter  past  ten  the  meeting  was  dissolved ; 
and  it  was  with  a  general  feeling  of  satisfaction  that 
the  occasion  had  been  so  successful  that  it  must  have 
lasting  influence  for  the  good  of  the  parish. 


I-C  9 


DATE  DUE 

GAYLORD 

PRINTEOIN  U.S.A. 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


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73.62 
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A3 


BOSTON 


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Boston  College 
Chestnut  Hill,  Mass.  02167 


